 Born in North Adelaide and raised in the working class seaside suburb of Semaphore, Crease was the eldest of four children.He was a prodigious public speaker from a young age and won the Year 7 senior school debating championship.He started his working life as a clerical worker in 1952 with Shell before becoming a copy boy and later cadet at Adelaide's "The News" newspaper, where he quickly "fell foul of the chief-of-staff" and was sacked.