1. Frank Packer was born in Kings Cross, in the eastern suburbs of Sydney, New South Wales.
24 Facts About Frank Packer
1. 2.
Frank Packer's parents were Ethel Maude Packer and Robert Clyde Packer, who started the family's association with the media as a journalist in New South Wales.
3.
Frank Packer's father, R C Packer, became editor of The Sunday Times and was a founder of Smith's Weekly and the Daily Guardian, which was published by Smith's Newspapers Ltd.
4.
In 1923, Frank Packer became a cadet journalist on his father's paper, the Daily Guardian.
5.
In 1933, Frank Packer started The Australian Women's Weekly and then transformed The Daily Telegraph into one of Australia's leading newspapers.
6.
Frank Packer inherited his media interests on his father's death in 1934.
7.
Frank Packer was chairman of ACP from 1936 until 1974.
8.
Frank Packer launched the first Australian station to broadcast a regular schedule, TCN in Sydney, which became the nucleus of the Nine Network.
9.
The Frank Packer media empire was known for its conservative leanings, and was a strong backer of long-serving Prime Minister Robert Menzies.
10.
Frank Packer was a keen yachtsman, boxer, golfer and polo player.
11.
Frank Packer was on the Australian Jockey Club's committee for 12 years and won the Caulfield Cup with his horse Columnist.
12.
Frank Packer was chairman of a syndicate that built the yachts Gretel and Gretel II to challenge for the America's Cup in 1962 and 1970.
13.
In 1972, Sir Frank Packer sold his newspaper flagship, The Daily Telegraph, to Rupert Murdoch.
14.
In 1992, journalist Max Walsh told the House of Representatives Select Committee on the Print Media that Frank Packer had exerted undue newsroom influence.
15.
Frank Packer was married to Gretel Joyce Bullmore on 24 July 1934 at All Saints Anglican Church, Woollahra.
16.
Frank Packer had two sons, Clyde and Kerry, with his first wife, Gretel.
17.
Frank Packer married for the second time in June 1964 to Florence Adeline Vincent in London.
18.
On 1 May 1974, Frank Packer died of heart failure at The Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Camperdown of "Pneumonia and reticulum cell sarcoma".
19.
Frank Packer was cremated at Northern Suburbs Crematorium and his ashes were interred within the Packer family mausoleum at South Head Cemetery.
20.
Frank Packer's estate was valued for probate in 1975 at $2,393,703.11 which, adjusted for inflation, would account to $23,232,745.54 in 2023.
21.
Frank Packer was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the King's Birthday Honours of 1951.
22.
Frank Packer was knighted in the Queen's Birthday Honours of 1959, for services to journalism and the newspaper industry.
23.
Since 1980 the Frank Packer Plate has been conducted at Randwick Racecourse.
24.
Frank Packer was inducted into the America's Cup Hall of Fame in 1999.