Ritchie Yorke
Australian writer (1944–2017)
Ritchie Yorke (12 January 1944 – 6 February 2017) was an Australian author, broadcaster, historian and music journalist, whose work was widely published in the U.S., UK, Canada and elsewhere.
Biography
Australia: 1962–1966
Ritchie Yorke was born in 1944 in Brisbane, Australia. He began writing a weekly music column called Teen Topics for the Queensland edition of TV Week magazine in July 1962. From March 1964 to March 1965 he continued writing articles, relocating to work as a publicity and news reader at a radio station in Tamworth before returning to Brisbane to act as public relations director at 4KQ. It was during his time on radio in Tamworth that Yorke was delivered a copy of "Fingertips Pt. 2" by Little Stevie Wonder, a 12 year old blind boy. Impressed, Yorke played the song on his weekend show but was promptly told by higher-ups not to play this kind of music. In protest, the following week Yorke set up in his studio and managed to play "Fingertips Pt. 2" eight times in a row before he was removed from the studio and quickly fired. This caused Yorke's relocation to Brisbane to continue writing and making travel plans for the future.
United Kingdom: 1966–1967
In 1966, Ritchie left Australia for London, England.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Ritchie Yorke” as australian writer (1944–2017). Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as australian writer (1944–2017). Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 18, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7336693. VIAF identifies the subject as 37600750. The Library of Congress control number is n93057780. 2 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1944, 2017, 1962 and 1966.
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This entry incorporates text from “Ritchie Yorke” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.