| Blue Wiggle Anthony Field knew it wasn't such a great idea joining the army, but he stuck it out for three years Elvis Presley has been blamed for influencing a lot of things, but until now, Anthony Field's decision to join the army at 19 wasn't one of them. The Blue Wiggle, who signed up in 1982, doesn't often think or talk about his three years of service. "From day one, from the moment I got on the bus, I knew it was a mistake, but I stuck it out," recalls the 38-year-old. Watching Elvis's film G I Blues, Field had thought "the army looks really fun ... guys hanging out,meeting girls, travelling the world!" He soon found army life wasn't like G I Blues, although rookietraining was "exactly like you see in movies, people yelling at you, they shave your head, and you wish you had never been born some days".Private Field went to Germany in 1984, for unofficial exercises with NATO forces. Although he'd never thought about being confronted by death or war, Field found himself alongside Uzi-toting soldiers. The feeling he wasn't fitting in was enhanced in London. When his fellow soldiers looked forward to hitting seedy nightspots, he went to the theatre. His stint ended, Field celebrated, then drove his sister to take a mature-age entry test for an early childhood teaching course. After "seeing no-one but men in green for three years", the colourful campus appealed. Field decided, on the spot, he'd take the entry test, too. The fact that he "was the only guy in the whole place" also seemed like a good omen. He'd had no interest in children, but found himself fascinated by the way their minds worked. While studying, he met fellow Wiggles Murray Cook and Greg Page, and had the idea of playing music appropriate to children's development. Army life had thwarted Field's interest in music. Growing up the youngest of seven in a housing commission home in Sydney's west ("four boys in one bedroom, and three girls in the other"), all the family played music. Field had been part of a rock band, The Cockroaches (including future Wiggle Jeff Fatt), which he rejoined after the army. When the band had a hit, She's The One, in 1986, Field deferred his studies, but two years of touring, night gigs and pubs wore him down. "Rock and roll became a bit mindless..." Completing his studies, he taught at a pre-school in Sydney's east, road-testing songs as well as dealing with 21 three-year-olds and the stigma of being a male in a female-dominated profession."You have to be beyond reproach," he notes. "The sad thing was that if someone fell over, you were advised not to cuddle them." One upside: male teachers weren't supposed cuddle them." One upside: male teachers weren't supposed to change nappies. After 12 months, Field was gratified that "at the start of the year I could only hold their interest for five minutes, at the end I had them for 45 minutes". Field notes that as a Wiggle, he's never really off duty, but says young fans rarely recognise members without their trademark skivvies. The troupe turned over more than $11 million last year, and has just released a new video, with Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin. This year they'll spend four months in the US, forcing Field to leave his Sydney home and three housemates - mini fox terriers. "I did feel I was doing something for Australia," he reflects of his time as a soldier. Aussie kids might argue he's serving his country better in a skivvy than he did in a uniform. |