15 Facts About Andrew Olle

John Andrew Durrant Olle was an Australian radio and television presenter who mostly worked for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

Andrew Olle's father rejoined the army in 1948 and, when Olle turned two, took the family to England while he was on army training.

At age 12, after his father had left the army and married a woman with three sons, Andrew Olle moved into their home in Melbourne and attended the local government Mornington High School.

Andrew Olle had previously been a good student at boarding school, seeking the approval of his parents, but became the "class ratbag" at his new school in a desperate attempt to fit in.

Andrew Olle quit school aged fifteen, took odd jobs at an automotive spare parts shop and a Myer department store in Melbourne, and moved out of his father's home.

In December 1964 Andrew Olle moved to Brisbane to live with his mother and her stepfather, who secured him a place at Brisbane Grammar School, where he boarded for his final year.

Andrew Olle received a Commonwealth Scholarship that allowed him to start an Arts-Law degree at the University of Queensland, but he dropped out after the first year.

Andrew Olle married Annette Longfield Olle, a nurse, at St Thomas' Anglican Church, Toowong on 24 April 1969 and the couple had two sons and a daughter: Nick, Sam, and Nina.

Andrew Olle began his career at the Australian Broadcasting Commission in Brisbane as a cadet on 27 November 1967.

Andrew Olle worked in Townsville from 1969 to 1970 before returning to Brisbane, where he mostly worked on the Queensland edition of the program This Day Tonight from 1971 to 1977.

Andrew Olle came to national attention in 1976 when he reported on a police raid of the Cedar Bay hippy commune, which won the award for "Outstanding Contribution to TV Journalism" at the Logie Awards of 1977.

Andrew Olle then moved to Sydney, where he worked on national programs for the ABC such as Four Corners, Nationwide, and A Big Country, before moving to the Nine Network where he worked on the newly established program Sunday from 1981 to 1985.

In 1987 he began presenting a popular morning radio show on ABC Radio Sydney, where he was known for his conversations about politics with his friend Canberra correspondent Paul Lyneham in the form of a comedic double act with Andrew Olle playing the straight man.

Andrew Olle began experiencing on-air memory lapses and later that year he was dismissed from his position at The 7.30 Report when it became a national program.

On 7 December 1995, Andrew Olle collapsed in his Greenwich home due to a brain haemorrhage associated with a previously undiagnosed brain tumour and he was taken to Royal North Shore Hospital, where he underwent neurosurgery the next day.