The late Peter Ryan will be familiar to many readers of The Age for his long-running column As I Please. But there was a lot more to Ryanâs life and works, as this compact biography demonstrates. He was once described as a âuniversal manâ â and that sounds about right. As a man of action he spent a truly frightening time behind the lines in occupied New Guinea at 18 â an experience that bequeathed him military decorations and a lifetime of malaria. His classic Fear Drive My Feet was based on this. As a man of letters he was an author, newspaper columnist and director of publishing for 26 years at Melbourne University Press â where he published Manning Clarkâs six-volume