Keith Miller - Later Life

Later Life

After retirement, Miller remained in the public eye, augmented by persistent "unsubstantiated rumours of an affair with Princess Margaret". He made a living as a journalist and columnist, employed by the Daily Express as a "special cricket writer" for twenty years. As during his career, Miller was a proponent of attacking and bright play. He praised the aggressive leadership of his protege Richie Benaud but criticised the style of play pursued by Australia under Benaud's successors Bob Simpson and Bill Lawry. In the mid-1980s, when Australia was struggling, Miller called for the removal of Allan Border, an obdurate and defensive batsman, from the captaincy.

He later worked for Vernons Pools, owned by the millionaire horseracing entrepreneur, Robert Sangster. However, Miller "was happiest at the cricket or at the races". He also worked as the head of a lobby group in promoting Australian rules football in his adopted New South Wales in the 1980s. At the time, the VFL was the dominant league and there were no top-flight teams in his adopted state or Queensland.

Miller's later life was plagued by ill health. In November 1991, he was hospitalised with a stroke, and soon after fell over and broke his hip, necessitating two further operations. He had skin cancer, caused by his insistence on always displaying his mop of hair and not wearing a hat. He accepted these vicissitudes equably. "Some grieved to see him reduced, but not him; these were life's deliveries. He knew only that one would get him out eventually." He had an earlobe removed. The cancer also attacked his legs, and coupled with his hip injury, severely curtailed his mobility, forcing him to use walking frames and wheelchairs. Asked at 75 about death, he said: "Never think about it. No regrets. I've had a hell of a good life. Been damned lucky."

Despite his illnesses, he continued to travel to England in the 1990s to watch cricket and meet up with Compton, Edrich and other war and cricket colleagues on an annual basis, although he became increasingly isolated as he outlasted his friends, both English and Australian.

In late 2002, Miller divorced his wife Peg, with whom he had four sons. He did so to marry his long-term mistress Marie Challman, with whom he had been living since 1999. Challman was a hospital receptionist and Miller reasoned that he would receive more effective medical treatment by moving to Melbourne to live with her, as his specialist doctors also live there. He had other long-term mistresses, including an Australian beauty queen with whom he was photographed in public. During his later years, his illness contributed to what his family felt was a deteriorating attitude and he fell out with his sons, but they reconciled shortly before his death.

Miller died in October 2004 after being in persistent poor health. He was given a state funeral by the Government of Victoria, which saw hundreds of mourners stand outside the packed cathedral, and was broadcast across the nation on ABC Radio.