Killer advice from agony aunt Chopper Hudson Bawden
FORMER standover man, toe cutter and acquitted killer Mark “Chopper” Read has followed in the footsteps ofDame Edna Everage and BigBrother’s Sara-Marie to become an agony aunt.
Read—one of Australia’s biggest selling authors and the subject of a multi-AFI Award-winning film—will be employed by Emap’s bloke mag FHM to dish out advice to readers.
Chopper will team up with porn star Jemma Jameson to advise FHM readers on a variety of subjects, including relationships and sex.
Despite his former “profession”, Chopper has maintained a high public profile, appearing in ads for Black Fly sunglasses, and as the subject of a Pedestrian Council of Australia campaign that won a Gold Lion at the Cannes Advertising Festival.
He has also expressed his intention to publish a children’s book, to broaden the range of his writing.
FHM editor John Bastick said some readers had expressed shock that Read had been employed, but none had objected to porn-star Jameson.
“Chopper is an experienced man of the world. He’s very forthcoming with advice. Like everything with Chopper you should take it with a grain of salt,” Bastick said.
“Everyone is tormented with relationship hassles. FHM readers, a lot of them are around the 20-to-25 years mark, and it’s tough trying to work out the opposite sex. Chopper is giving his unusual slant on life.”
Bastick said Read did not work from the FHM office but communicated his advice via fax from an undisclosed location in Melbourne. Bastick declined to say how much Read would be paid for his “words of wisdom”.
