The 70s Carnation Kid turned Australian Idol judge and barrister on dreams, ageing and his unusual career

Mark Holden is missing his weekly session with his personal trainer to take this walk with me. He smiles as we embark on the near hour-long circuit the 72-year-old does three times a week. Holden says “a nice little walk” is essential to “fighting the forces of gravity that try to bring you down” in your eighth decade.

It’s a brisk Melbourne morning, overcast and still as we set off from the suburban streets towards the Elwood foreshore. Holden has been a local since 1998 when he returned from decades as a music industry journeyman in the US after finding success in Australia as a baby-faced, white dinner-suited crooner known for distributing red carnations to fans on Countdown in the mid 1970s.

Sign up for a weekly email featuring our best reads