Michael was my hero and he still is and always will be. He introduced me to a new world, a world where it was possible to be kind, caring, helpful and somebody’s hero! He made me want to be a hero, a maverick – and of course a biker and the Lone Ranger. I remember... it was about 9pm on a Tuesday night back in 1986, my Dad (Bill) was watching a TV show and I was just about to go to bed, and all of a sudden I heard this engine... I knew it was a motorcycle because I had heard my cousin Neil starting his bike all the time. I rushed into the front room and saw this guy in a leather jacket riding a beautiful motorcycle. I was amazed and bedazzled, I wanted to be this guy. Hahaha how my Mum and Dad tried making me go to bed, but no way was I going anywhere until this show finished! They never did drag me away from it either – I stayed until the end, which is where I first heard my favourite song – ‘Hi Ho Silver’ by Jim Diamond, my other hero!
There was never a Tuesday went by that I didn’t sit in front of the TV after that first introduction to Michael Elphick (Ken Boon). I even got my parents to put a TV just for me in my bedroom so I could watch it in peace! Imagine – a 5-year-old kid making demands for a TV in his room just so he could watch a TV show that most kids of that age wouldn’t even have known about!
Haha, picture this – a 5-year-old in the school playground, running around with his hands in front of him doing raspberry noises to make the sound of a motorcycle and shouting ‘HI HO SILVER’ at the top of his voice... If you ever heard that – it would have been me! The teachers thought I was mad – the other kids asked who the hell Boon was – and any kid that didn’t know, I would stand there and say “He is my uncle – he rides a motorcycle and saves people!”
The impact he had on me was awesome, and I am sure he had a similar impact on many people, but I doubt it was as powerful as the one he had on me.
By the age of 11, it was time for me to say goodbye to Boon when the final series aired – I remember thinking “No way will Boon ever go away, he is too great!”... and then the end of the series arrived: “Shot In The Dark”. I cried my little eyes out, my parents had to sit with me all night when that episode finished. I knew from that moment that Boon was a huge part of my life and always would be. It sounds pretty weird to some people, I guess, but it is special to me: the moments I have shared with you here are precious moments in my life. Like the time I wrote to Michael Elphick for his advice with some bullying I was going through at school – he replied within a few days with a signed photograph and a letter of sympathy and some tips on what I could do... “Go to the teachers – If that doesn’t work, tell them you will get Ken Boon to sort them out! and that he will bring Rocky and Harry with him!” Haha, I will never forget that letter. That just shows what a caring, funny, kind man he was.
My memories of Michael will never leave me, as my Dad also says even now when he watches Boon with me... “He is part of the family is Ken/Michael! – never will he be forgotten.” And he certainly is. I will never get over the fact that he is no longer with us, but I am sure he is somewhere right now, living in the Ponderosa or something, and answering distress calls and riding off to the rescue on his special ‘White Lightning’ BSA to the sound of ‘Hi Ho Silver’.
Ride on down Ken – we will never forget you. Always in my heart...
Your friend, who I hope you will always remember.
Alan Williams
MICHAEL ELPHICK
1946 – 2002
(I was listening to your theme song when you left to be a hero in Heaven)
© Alan Williams, 2004
Page last modified: 08 February 2009, 12:57