While I am in the memorial mode a shout out for the passing yesterday of a great Victorian politician ( and for once great doesn't seem inappropriate ) in the person of John Cain. Yuppie and Garlic will doubtless remember his achievements in winning government for Labor after 27 years in opposition after his father lost office in the 1955 ALP split.
Not strictly a sporting chap : but he built the Tennis Centre that now hosts the Australian Open ; kept the AFL final from moving to the now defunct Waverley white elephant , and kept those wretched poker machines out of the state for a few years ...
He did a good deal to modernize Melbourne and notably reformed health and safety rules . And was astonishingly honorourable for a politician : as a colleague remarked the other day he even bought his own postage stamps ! A true gentleman by all accounts.