Heartwarming / Bill Bryson

• An anecdote he relates in In A Sunburned Country: In the 1950s, a teenaged Hungarian immigrant (who was escaping the 1956 Hungarian Revolution) to Australia reported to the local police station and explained in broken English that he had been told to register his address. The duty sergeant stared at the youth, and came around his desk. "The Hungarian recalled that for one bewildered moment he thought the policeman might be about to strike him, but instead the sergeant thrust out a meaty hand and said warmly, 'Welcome to Australia, son!' The Hungarian recalled the incident with wonder even now, and when he finished there were tears in his eyes."