Ray Martin has revealed how he once told Bob Hawke to back off after the former prime minister tried to "scoop" him over one of his biggest ever interviews.
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Martin revealed the tussle - over the chance to speak to Sir Don Bradman - on Merrick Watts' 2MMM show Merrick And Australia.
Martin had met Bradman at a dinner in the late 1980s during which the cricket legend confessed he enjoyed Martin's Midday Show.
Seeing his chance, the veteran journalist suggested the famously media-shy sportsman appear on the program.
"He said, 'Oh, yeah. Good try, son'," said Martin. "No, I don't have anything to do with television or the media any more.
"And then he said, 'But if I ever do a television interview, I'll do it with you'."
Martin put the conversation to one side until, about four years later, he got a call from Hawke.
"He said, 'I've been in Adelaide with Don Bradman and Bradman has agreed to an interview but ... I can't do it unless you will release him from the agreement," said Martin.
Ever the journo, and despite being put on the spot by no less than a former prime minister, Martin wasn't about to give up such a prize interview.
"Of course someone should speak to Don Bradman," he told Hawke. "But if he's now available, I'm back in the game."
Martin didn't elaborate on Hawke's response but his stubbornness evidently paid off. A few years later he got the interview and the result was the TV special Don Bradman — 87 Not Out, which was broadcast on Channel Nine in 1996.
