In 1964, one of Australia’s leading javelin throwers, Reg Spiers, was training in England when he failed to make the Australian Olympic team.

Things got worse when his wallet was stolen, leaving him completely broke.

He was stuck in England with no way to get home. Reg, however, was an out-of-the-box thinker. Perhaps there was a way to get home that would cost him nothing, it just had never been done before.

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Reg attracted a lot of attention back in the day, and has given countless interviews since which I drew on. The most definitive account is the book Out of the Box: The crazy true story of the Australian champion athlete who posted himself by Julie McSorley and Marcus McSorley and is worth checking out if you want the whole story.

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