June 10, 2026 — 11:40amWhen someone drops an astounding revelation over lunch, we tend to seek comfort in cliches.A jaw-dropping bombshell left us gobsmacked in stunned silence.Such moments can be awkward, but also unexpectedly life-affirming and prompt a rethink about our preconceptions (prejudices) of old people.And so it was when Peter Clemenger, 98, the legendary advertising executive and arts benefactor once described as a charming parcel of contradictions, ordered his second cappuccino and said: “Now, I’m just thinking, one of the parts of my life that we haven’t touched on is my golf.”Peter Clemenger, the 98-year-old cofounder of the Clemenger Advertising agency, at NGV Garden Restaurant.Justin McManusInterviewing someone born in 1927 is different. The time frame stretches; it is hard to maintain your footing.I am puzzled when the lifelong Melburnian says he is a Sydney Swans fan – that happened because (Swans predecessor) South Melbourne defeated Richmond in the 1935 grand final. When Clemenger says he has lived in his three-bedroom house in Toorak for 45 years, you think about downsizing. But he did downsize 45 years ago, after he and Joan (whom he married in 1956) were done raising their four boys.Life is enjoyable, Clemenger says.“Well, I sleep well. And my health is pretty good. And I’m lucky to be alive. That’s the truth. I’m 98, coming on 99, in November. And I enjoy each day for what it brings me.”He takes about three tablets a day.The world with the Middle East and Trump is “a bit topsy-turvy at the moment”.The Garden Restaurant’s twice baked gruyere souffle, asparagus, peas, truffle sauce.Justin McManus“I don’t lie awake worrying about the world. The problems that the world faces is beyond me. I don’t try to fix that.”Truth in advertising regulations would dictate that the NGV Garden Restaurant be renamed the NGV Construction Site Restaurant, as the windows survey a vast development zone soon to be the Fox Contemporary. Directly out of our window a metal fountain in the shape of a man is pissing a water jet into the pool. Why? Because modern art.Clemenger, who has spent millions as an arts benefactor and whose family art collection included works by Smart, Olsen, Whiteley, is ridiculously sharp for his age. He is a prime example of what The New York Times calls “super-agers”, people over 70 who often possess brains that resist typical ageing, blessed by both genetic factors and a youthful mindset.Clemenger sits down and looks puzzled. “What prompted all this?” he wants to know of our lunch.As an executive, he had a reputation for straight talking, once asking Fletcher Jones in a business pitch if the retailer was ashamed of its shops, “because if you’re not, you should be”. He is polite and direct, his voice is broadly Australian, his left eye permanently closed. He is done with suits and ties, dressed for comfort in a shapeless blue jumper over a collared shirt and clad in thickened soled sneakers for stability, although he walks unaided. It doesn’t seem enough for a Melbourne autumn, but apart from the year and a half in the 1950s living in London, Clemenger has never lived anywhere else.I tell him there was a segment on radio 3AW about an ad agency turning 80 this year and its founder was 98, and that it could only be him.“I’m surprised that I would be the subject of an article, I guess,” he says later.He was four years old and playing in a sandpit when his younger brother John, then two, struck him in the eye with a spade. “And I’ve been blind in it ever since. Which hasn’t helped.”A famous local eye surgeon pronounced nothing could be done. “I didn’t think about it much. It didn’t help me playing tennis with the backhand shot because I couldn’t see.” Despite this, Clemenger became a legend of the industry whose revenue kept Australian newspapers and television stations alive for decades, and his list of public-spirited achievements helped make Melbourne Melbourne.He was central to the failed Melbourne 1996 Olympic bid, which helped Sydney’s triumphant bid for 2000. He founded the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival, had the idea for the Melbourne Marathon, funded new plays at the Melbourne Theatre Company, funded research at the Centre of Eye Research Australia, was on the board of the NGV Foundation and created the Clemenger Contemporary Art Award with Joan, who died in 2022 after 56 years of marriage.Advertising executives, like their best output, are engaging, interesting and fun. Less than five minutes in and Clemenger is talking about Sir Robert Menzies, which is not name-dropping, he just lived on the same street as the Clemenger family home. Prince Charles came to visit the former prime minister. The four Clemenger boys were quick to get over there.His father, Jack Clemenger, founded the agency in 1946 in the basement of a Bourke Street hat shop with son Peter as the first employee. Peter and his brother John built the agency at 416 St Kilda Road into a powerhouse.Peter Clemenger (left) and his brother John, were joint managing directors of John Clemenger Pty. Ltd. by 1973. Fairfax Media“It was like pitching for an account in Rome when the other agency was the Vatican,” adman turned broadcaster Phillip Adams once said. Employees included Seekers Athol Guy and Bruce Woodley and a young Jeff Kennett. “We didn’t pay him enough, so he left.”He doubts anyone at the time thought Kennett would go on to become Victorian premier. “He helped the state. He made a lot of good decisions. He made a few mistakes. We all make mistakes, don’t we?”The agency was famous for its riotous fancy dress Christmas parties. A sense of fun is important, Clemenger believes. “Oh, I think it adds the whole interest of being alive.”Nowadays, life is centred on his four sons and seven grandchildren. His third son, Michael, “brings me a coffee on a Sunday morning and fixes my computer problems”.I anticipate a boozy advertising lunch, but I am decades too late. Nonagenarians don’t eat much, and Clemenger doesn’t want to drink alcohol as he drove himself here, after his licence was renewed for three years.Clemenger chose the NGV, where he is an honorary life benefactor, because the food is good. He just wants an entree, ordering the twice-baked gruyere souffle with asparagus, peas and truffle sauce. It arrives in the middle of a large plate nestled on a bed of peas and salad leaves.Peter and Joan Clemenger built their art collection together over decades.I order the John Dory, which arrives artfully arranged, two generous slabs of seared fish atop celeriac and mushroom chanterelles.There was a time (no longer) when advertising was at the confluence of business, media, politics, culture and money. The big advertising agencies not only organised the creative ads, but also bought the ad slots from TV, radio, newspapers and cinema on behalf of their clients, and thus funnelled vast amounts of money from brands to media owners (for a commission). Thus, everyone wanted to know the ad guys.Those of us who lived through the 1980s know, thanks to Clemenger, that Yoplait is “French for yoghurt”. And two decades later, again thanks to Clemenger, that the consequence of forgetting to book your listing in the Yellow Pages would be your monstrous boss telling you, “Not happy, Jan.” Further back, the agency created the famous ICPOTA cartoon figure for The Age, which stood for “In (the) classified pages of The Age”.For a series of client dinners, Clemenger interviewed four prominent businessmen. Such was his sway he landed Alan Bond, John Elliott, Rupert Murdoch and Kerry Packer, who really didn’t want to do it.ICPOTA in Bourke Street Mall in 1985