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Don Watson went to school at Poowong and Korumburra in Victoria. After gaining a BA (Hons) from La Trobe University, he graduated with a PhD from Monash University.
For ten years he was an academic historian before resigning to write, among other things, political satire for TV and the stage (including The Gillies Report), and speeches for the Victorian Premier John Cain.
After time as research fellow at The University of Melbourne, he became Prime Minister Paul Keating's speechwriter and adviser. He stayed in that position until Keating's electoral defeat in 1996.
Dr Watson's columns, articles and essays have appeared in all major Australian journals and newspapers. He also writes feature films, the latest of which was The Man Who Sued God. His 2001 Quarterly Essay Rabbit Syndrome: Australia and America won the inaugural Alfred Deakin Essay Prize in the Victorian Premier's Literary Awards.
His best-selling book Recollections of a Bleeding Heart: Paul Keating Prime Minister was published in 2002 and won The Age Book of the Year and Non-Fiction Prizes, the Brisbane Courier Mail Book of the Year, the National Biography Award and the Australian Literary Studies Colin Roderick Award. Death Sentence: The Decay of Public Language , his 2003 book about the decay of public language, also became a best seller. His most recent book is Watson's Dictionary of Weasel Words, Contemporary Clichés, Cant & Management Jargon.
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