Robert G. Barrett


Robert George Barrett was a popular Australian author of numerous books, most of them featuring the fictional Australian character Les Norton.

Best selling author

The character "Les Norton" was based on two likeable Sydney larrikin identities, Ken Wills, a polyathlete who was a retired Sydney TRG/ water police officer, deep sea diver, first grade rugby league player for South Sydney in the mid 70s, a professional boxer and a skiing gold medallist, although there is no corroborating evidence for many of these claims. The other character was amateur boxer turned seaman/waterfront worker "William Davis" an underworld hard man.
Robert Barrett worked as a DJ and his two friends worked as doormen at "Randi Wix" night club in Randwick, thinly veiled as the nightclub where Les works in the tales. Both Doogsa and Willsy had associations with the Kellet club; Barrett did not. After work they would "grab drinks at the early opener at Kings Cross and swap stories," whilst Barrett jotted down the occasional note. A montage of these stories and the continuing life experiences of these two uniquely Australian individuals are what appears in the Les Norton series. Therefore, the Les Norton tales are truer than may be imagined.
Robert G. Barrett also wrote other single book stories. 'So What Do You Reckon?' is a collection of Robert's columns from when he was a columnist for the Australian People magazine. Barrett's books sold over 1,000,000 copies in Australia.

Death

Robert Barrett died at Terrigal, New South Wales on 20 September 2012 after enduring a long battle with bowel cancer.

Books

[Les Norton] series