As far as famous people go there was Kevin Moran in the '80s, but in real life I don't think I ever met anyone else with the same surname. That's not the same here, as Australia's most famous crime family in recent years were the Morans (second ever only to the Kelly family of Ned fame, for a double barrelled coincidence). From the late '90s and up to a couple of years ago there were gangland wars in Melbourne with that family in the middle of it, seeing as they had a lot of the drug trade tied up, and Aussies still love their pills (and then some… there was loads of kids mushed at Interpol when I went to see them!). The biggest show by far on the box just now is called Underbelly, a drama with loads of old Neighbours bods in it about the Morans and the gangland murders. Because there's still trials happening from all the naughty business that went on then it's been banned in Victoria, but everyone else is lapping it up (and there's a roaring trade in pirate DVDs in Victoria). The Aussie word for a chav is Bogan, and Underbelly's been nicknamed the 'Bogan Sopranos'. Until now every time I made a booking or call centre phonecall I'd be going "Moran, m-o-r-a-n" but everyone knows the name now. Obviously at this point I’d like to say I also get treated with a new degree of respect and fear, but when you give off such an air of understated menace like I do there’s no where left to go…
