My favourite food eating out is "roadrunner" chicken and rice with peanut sauce at my village house in Zimbabwe.

One unusual thing I learned about Chopper Read is that in spite of all his bragging about firearms, he had no idea how to use automatic or semi-auto handguns. Clueless. Couldn't hit the side of a parked car. Also his surname should have been Pepper, which was legally his father's foster name (Read senior was abandoned at an early age) but "Chopper Pepper" would never have worked.

My view of Chopper Read is that he was a cartoon character created by Mark Brandon Read. We wanted this anti-hero to be true. He gave some people hope, others he gave someone to judge and condemn. He was a tangle of contradictions, boasting about his evil-doing then expressing his regret in the next breath. He should be remembered as the Walter Mitty of the crime world but instead he is up there with Ned Kelly. He made up stories of being involved in the murder of four people but the truth was far from that. Stories of torture with blow torches and boltcutters are also highly unlikely.

Writing about true crime is a test of journalistic skill; getting to people is the hardest part. Once you find them, it's remarkable how many are willing to talk to you. Mostly you are trying to prove people are guilty of heinous crimes but in Chopper's case I was trying to prove his confessions were false. His childhood mates had the entire story.

My most memorable experience as a journalist was reporting on Melbourne's gangland war. Plunging into this multi-layered underworld conflict, I wound up getting close to many of the players and gained a unique insight. Some people said I got too close but it was the only way to tell this story. Door-stopping Nelson Mandela on his way into a function in Pretoria surrounded by security was another highlight. With a wave of his hand, the goons stepped back and I got to chat with him at length.

The Real Chopper by Adam Shand will be published on September 24.