‘JACK of all trades; master of none,’ — a common phrase uttered by the eccentric and those with eclectic tastes.
Greg Keyes, now 63-years-young, certainly is a jack of all trades, and a master of all of them.
A self-proclaimed “high achiever” Mr Keyes has had more careers than one can count. He’s a renewable energy nut, and is about to embark on chronicling his life by way of autobiography.
Mr Keyes’ is well known around Ultima, mostly for his home, which is completely covered — with more to come — in solar lights, powered by a 5 kilovolt – ampere solar generator, containing around 12,000 lights.
Starting out in the army at age 17, he spent 18 months serving our country, before moving into Victorian Police, and much later becoming a member of the Australian Federal Police.
“I spent sixteen years as a copper, I did a stint with media liaison. I was stationed at Altona, Maidenstone, Alexandra, and I left when I was in Hayward in 1987,” Mr Keyes said.
“I went to a police reunion of my squad last month, November, we started in 1971.
“We got chatting about backgrounds and they’re the ones that talked me into writing a biography.
“They even named it — it’s going to be called Beyond The Blue.”
Beyond The Blue will be an account of Mr Keye’s time in the force, and what happens when you go ‘beyond the blue’ — blue being the uniform Australian police are renowned for wearing.
After the police force, Mr Keyes, suffering from having seen so much horror, turned to theatre as a full-time pursuit — in the past he had only used it as an escape.
Mr Keyes had an illustrious career in stage, working as a producer, an actor and director in a television series.
For more on this story, grab a copy of Wednesday’s Guardian (December 23).
