#70: Julie

Cleaning Lady, 1990-1991

A few days after we moved into our new house in Canberra we had a knock on the door from Julie. She was a slightly nutty old Greek lady who told us she'd been the cleaner to the family that had lived in the house before us and that she would like to continue her job. My parents didn't (or couldn't?) say no so Julie started showing up.

I always thought that part of the job of a house cleaner would be to appear as inobtrusive and invisible as possible. This wasn't Julie's style. She thought of herself as a decorator as much as a cleaner and we'd often come home to find the mantelpiece re-arranged, pictures hung in different places, your sock drawer and your t-shirt drawer suddenly swapped or even a whole new layout of furniture in the lounge.

#69: Idge

Owner/Engineer, Soundpark Studios, 2005-2007

Hidden away in the suburbs of Melbourne, Idge has built a fortress. Hidden behind the image of a disused warehouse space is a series of busy band rehearsal rooms, and hidden inside that is Idge's masterpiece - Soundpark Studio. It's an analogue recording studio built from an amazing collection of vintage equipment and mics, capable of recording both digitally and onto gorgeous 2-inch tape. Like Idge himself, the studio looks slightly ramshackle - but when you see it working it's a thing of beauty.

Outside the studio Idge is a quiet and mellow guy. He shuffles around the rehearsal rooms communicating with subtle nods, shrugs and eyebrow tilts and you always get the feeling there is somewhere else he'd rather be. Because there is.

#68: Justin Tough'n'cool

Campbell Primary School classmate, 1990-1991

Justin lived alone with his mum who worked nights, so he did whatever the hell he wanted. Justin was the kid who showed us all the things we weren't supposed to see and told us all the things we weren't supposed to know about. He listened to NWA and watched R16 movies, skated after dark.

I was with him once while he tried on a skull ring in a shop in the mall. The thing got stuck on his finger but Justin just put his hand in his pocket and walked right out of the shop.

#67: 301 Dairy Man

Dairy Man, 2001-2003

In the Webb St days 301 Cuba was our local shop. It was a small dairy run by a camp Indian guy with a cheeky sense of humour who loved to poke his nose into his customers love lives. He would've been creepy if he wasn't so funny - whenever I went there with a girl he'd be pulling me aside and suggesting chocolates to buy her and when I went in by myself he'd be asking whether they did the trick.

After a while he decided to take matters into his own hands and boost my image a bit. For a while every time I'd go in with anybody else, at first girls but then with whoever, he'd start like this: "Ah, my friend, the extra-large condoms you ordered have arrived!".

#66: Tim Costeloe

Art teacher, Wellington College, 1994-1998

Mr Costeloe was probably my favourite teacher I've ever had. And seeing as he was my art teacher every year of high school and I never studied art again he is actually responsible for almost 100% of my formal art education.

He was a funny guy with a strange sense of humour and the ability to appear perpetually frustrated and flustered. He'd pace around the classroom muttering away, and while he liked to act like he was annoyed with us all he was actually an extremely generous teacher, full of passion and patience. We drove each other up the walls over the years but by the end of school I came to appreciate everything he'd done for me and the huge role he played in developing both my skills and confidence as an artist.

The ultimate praise you could get from Costeloe was called a 'marvelous'. When you'd really nailed something he'd throw both hands up, lean back and boom it out in joy. To this day when I put the finishing touches on something I'm really proud of I say it to myself: "MAAAARvelous!"

#65: Guy Champney

Wieden+Kennedy colleague, comic artist, writer, Shazam editor, funny guy

Even with the worst of hangovers Guy would usually still walk into work with a smile on his face. And even at his most bleary-eyed, head-pounding worst he'd still swing by my desk in the morning and flash me that cheeky grin that said we'd be going for a beer at lunch and he'd have some incredible new story to tell.

#64: Olivia Shanahan

Ben's little sister

So it's Ben's birthday party and his little sister comes stomping in, having a tantrum.

"It's not fair! It hasn't been my birthday for over a year!"

#63: Liam the Vegan

Flatmate, Cuba St, 2000

Is there anyone more annoying than a self-righteous vegan? Yeah, we get it, you're not hurting the animals, but the thing is you're hurting our brains with your smug, holier-than-thou preaching.

For months Liam ran a campaign of terror in our flat, as if him waking us every morning running parsnips through a woodchipper and his fridge apartheid wasn't annoying enough. It started with snarky comments, stepped up to post-it notes on our food and culminated in us waking one morning to find our flat goldfish in it's bowl in a frying pan on the stove with a note left on it saying 'Would you eat this?'.