OLD BOYS
The indomitable Michael Ware
A Renaissance man forged at BGS
faster, bigger and stronger than me, that first term was quite intimidating,” he said.
Former war correspondent and BGS Old Boy Michael Ware ’86 became the voice of the Iraq war for Americans, as he made the world’s deadliest war zones his home through the 2000s. Working for Time magazine and CNN in Afghanistan and Iraq, Ware witnessed the birth of ISIS and endured three kidnappings, including an attack that saw him moments from execution.
“But what turned it around socially for me was the first season of rugby training and games. It was that experience through team sport at BGS that helped me feel like I’d arrived at the School, it gave me a sense of belonging. BGS rugby became something that was very powerful as a social agent in my early years, it really had a deep and lasting impact on me. From the discipline to the camaraderie and sense of brotherhood, rugby was important.”
During his most recent project last year, he rode with The Night Wolves, a pro-Putin motorcycle gang; explored witchcraft in PNG; and interviewed Iranian spies as part of an eight-episode National Geographic series. Uncensored with Michael Ware appeared on television screens in 171 countries and in 45 languages. But rewind more than three decades to his teenage years, and it was at BGS that Ware gained the confidence to take risks and chase his dreams. Having earned an academic scholarship to attend the School in 1982, it took some time to find his place. “To arrive on day one, looking around this incredible school with over 1000 kids, all who looked smarter,
From there Ware said he developed other friendships and networks and involved himself in everything from drama and debating to music, rowing and astronomy. A BGS all-rounder, Ware was equally adept inside and outside the classroom. “I distinctly remember in Modern History being introduced to the concept of the Renaissance man,” he said. “The sort of guy that is well-rounded with a poet’s heart and a warrior’s physicality and sense of adventure. This idea really had an impact on me at BGS and that’s when I think I started to develop as a young adult.”
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“Even in my later life and later career in our modern wars, when I see the professional military on their front lines, these are very well-rounded individuals, some of these commanders particularly. They are truly warrior scholars or warrior poets. That’s something that resonated with me starting from way back when in a classroom in 1982. It’s an idea that I’ve used to fashion my whole life and it’s an idea I found at BGS.” After graduating from BGS, Ware went on to gain Law and Political Science degrees at The University of Queensland and play rugby for the Queensland Reds. A major car accident interrupted his rugby career and led to years of surgeries and physiotherapy, but he fought his way back into the Reds team, only to retire after three games when he realised it wasn’t for him. An accidental journalist, he first worked as a clerk for Justice Tony Fitzgerald, before a chat between his mum and The Courier-Mail chief of staff led Ware to taking on a year-long trial as a journalist. His talent was immediately obvious and after just five years as a journalist and following a key assignment in East Timor, he was offered a job at Time magazine.
