By October 1950, Rupert Murdoch had finally escaped Corio Bay and Geelong Grammar, and while he had matriculated with only middling results, he was about to live out another unfulfilled dream of his father’s: higher education.
Now half a world away from Cruden Farm [his parents’ property], the Rivetts became the closest thing to home or family. Rohan and Nan Rivett had met up with the newly graduated 19-year-old Rupert in Rome in April 1950, when they joined the Murdoch family on a tour across Europe. Rivett had grown close to Sir Keith, but the invitation was born of necessity: after all, somebody needed to run in the new Land Rover that would be the Murdochs’ chief mode of transport throughout their trip.
In April 1951, Rupert joined Rohan and Nan on a 3000-kilometre trip through Austria and Switzerland. Upon their return, Rivett told Sir Keith: “His development in 12 months has been amazing. His resource and ability to work things out and get things done are first-rate. I can’t say the same of his French, but I gather he means to work much harder at Oxford this year and after all, he has had a great deal on his plate for a boy not yet 21 in his first year at Oxford.
request: “A private word, Rohan. Do be careful not to inflate Rupert. You have talked once or twice in your letters of his ‘brilliant prospects’. His prospects depend entirely on himself.“I can assure him of a fine opportunity in the newspaper world, but it will be useless unless he has the right qualities and these are not easy to attain.
Briggs was one of the young Oxford dons who joined Rupert on the second leg of his grand tour, travelling from Turkey to Egypt, via Syria, Lebanon and Palestine in Sir Keith’s increasingly battered Zephyr. The party often camped in sleeping bags in the open air, drawing suspicion from the local police as they went. As the Zephyr swerved and shuddered along rough and crumbling roads, Murdoch launched into long, broad tirades from behind the wheel at the elitist “pommies” back in Oxford.