New Zealand’s Oldest Driver Has No Plans to Give Up
Born before the first Model T rolled out of Henry Ford’s factory in Detroit, Northland man Bob Edwards, 105, is New Zealand’s oldest licensed driver – and one of the oldest in the…
Blog Archives
Modern New Zealand Cuisine Hits New York
Auckland-born chef Matt Lambert’s new enterprise The Musket Room, is a “New Zealand-centric … upscale, casual neighborhood restaurant,” with “a wine list weighted to New Zealand selections beyond the usual…
Berkett Joins Guardian Media Group as Chairman
Departing Virgin Media chief executive New Zealander Neil Berkett has been named chairman of Guardian Media Group (GMG). During his six-year tenure in the same role at Virgin Media, New Zealand-born Berkett focused on…
Aaradhna Signs with Winehouse Label Republic Records
It has been a monumental year for Porirua-raised R&B singer Aaradhna Jayantilal Patel – better known by her stage name Aaradhna. The recording artist has secured an American record deal and won…
Small’s Book One of Only a Few About Listening to Music
Palmerston North-born musicologist and writer Christopher Small’s book Musicking is one of three books, “and there aren’t many” – “about listening as process and reaction and ritual, how our listening might change music”– recommended…
Life Behind Many Doors in a Vintage Ho Chi Minh Home
New Zealand engineer Rick Stockley and his wife Rosie Pollard, 30, a choreographer, were not planning to move in October 2011, but a surprise offer prompted them to reconsider. Some acquaintances were going to…
Skimming Shallow Waters at Breathtaking Speed
“Shortly after the invention of the jet unit by New Zealander Bill Hamilton, the Melhop brothers started the world’s first commercial jet boating on the Shotover River in 1960,” Richard Irwin writes for the…
American Football Lineman Going Far
New Zealander Nic Purcell “is the most improbable player in Eagles camp this summer”, according to Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia. The 27-year-old lineman grew up playing basketball and rugby and never set foot on…
In the League of Flavins and Filling Up La Pietà with Flotsam
Artist Bill Culbert is representing New Zealand at this year’s Venice Biennale with a series of three-in-one works occupying nine rooms in the Istituto Santa Maria della Pietà, including the ongoing Daylight Flotsam…
New Zealand Sailors Dominate Rugby Field
Crew from the Royal New Zealand Navy Frigate Te Mana took on sailors from the USS George Washington aircraft carrier near Yokusuka Naval Base, Japan, in the final of a 10-aside tournament, beating the…
Rugged Coast a Place of Refuge for Hillary
Sir Edmund Hillary’s daughter, Sarah reflects on the area in New Zealand – along the wild coast of the Waitakere Ranges – where the mountaineer found refuge, from the attention that followed his conquest…
Gender Never Discussed in Castle Appointment
Netball New Zealand head Raelene Castle, 42, has been appointed chief executive of the Bulldogs, the first time an NRL club has hired a woman for the top job. Bulldogs chairman Ray Dib said…
Skincare Made Beautiful by the Bees
New Zealand actress and founder of Kalon Skincare, Anna Wilding, talks with The Times of Northwest Indiana about the benefits of bee venom as a beauty treatment. “We make a premium grade…
Reviving the Legacy of a Great Chieftain
“After 150 years of marginalisation, things are finally looking up for the ,” Yasmine Ryan writes for Al Jazeera. “The central New Zealand town of Matamata is world renowned for its thoroughbred horse…
New Zealand Union Coaches Taking over the World
The appointment of Vern Cotter as next head coach of Scotland is testament to the quality of rugby coaches that have been developed in New Zealand, according to Steve Hansen. The 51-year-old’s appointment means…
Leave the Hillary Step Ladderless Urges American Mountaineer
“Sixty years ago this week, as Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay approached the summit of the world’s highest mountain, they were stopped by a 40-foot wall of rock and ice,” American mountaineer Ed Viesturs…
New Zealand in Midst of Year-long Earthquake
For the past five months a magnitude 7 earthquake, centred near Wellington, has been slowly rocking the country. It’s the strongest earthquake to hit the region in 150 years says The New Zealand Herald,…
Reviving Palates with Lifting Fruit and Zesty Acidity
Of the 32 vintages of 2011 and 2012 Marlborough sauvignon blanc tasted at the Dallas Morning News and TexSom Wine Competition, nine were awarded gold medals, “an exceptionally high proportion for any…
Quantum Move with Australian Pharmaceutical Acquisition
New Zealand’s Ebos Group Ltd. has reached a $1.1 billion deal to buy Australian pharmaceutical supplier Zuellig Healthcare Holdings, in what would be the biggest acquisition by a New Zealand-based company in two years….
Jemaine and Bret’s Stateside Legacy
The legacy of Flight of the Conchords has been the creation of a new stereotype for New Zealanders travelling in the US, writes James Robinson. Robinson, a New Zealand journalist who lives in San…
Domestic Spy Stories Unfolding
“One of Kim Dotcom’s lasting legacies in New Zealand – beyond his already-legendary arrest, like something out of a film – is that the government may change the law to make it easier to…
Mighty River Power Hopes the Public Buys It
“Aerial shots of majestic dams and steaming geothermal power stations amid lush countryside form the backdrop for television advertisements promoting the initial public offering of the government-owned electricity company Mighty River Power,” Jonathan Hutchison…
Urban is Bones No Doubt About It
Wellington-born actor Karl Urban, 40, is Doctor “Bones” McCoy, one of the series’ most iconic Starfleet crew. Urban has tackled many iconic sci-fi and fantasy characters on the silver screen, but perhaps none more…
Sending the Right Message About Age
“Karen Walker Eyewear is worn by the style conscious and coveted by a youthful market, yet their latest campaign showcases women aged between 80 and 93 from Cohen’s
New Gut-Busting Competition Show Planned
Amazing Race host New Zealander Phil Keoghan will produce and may become the face of a new, even more gruelling competition show that could air later this year. Under the working title, “The Phil…
First Hand Account from the Top
Sixty years after Hillary and Tenzing reached Everest’s summit, a number of new books dissect the events of 1953, including two books by New Zealander George Lowe, who died in March aged 89, the…
Mockridge Appointed Head of Pay Television Service
Tom Mockridge has been appointed Virgin Media chief executive, replacing fellow New Zealander Neil Berkett. The move will see the former chief executive of News International, a near 22-year veteran of News Corp, return…
Voted Top Player by His Irish Peers
Aucklander Nick Williams, 29, who plays at back row forward for Ulster Rugby, has been presented with Player of the Year at the RaboDirect PRO12 awards gala in Dublin. By beating Irish internationals, Cian…
Ceremony Honours Remains of Chinese Goldminers
“When the steamer SS Ventnor sank off the in 1902, a Wellington newspaper listed its lost cargo in the language of the time as ‘5347 tons of coal consigned to the Admiralty…
So Good and So Vegetarian
“You’ll find Kokako in a 1940s post office in Auckland’s Grey Lynn, a rapidly gentrifying inner-city liberal stronghold,” Monocle reports. “The café opened a year ago – a welcome addition to a…
Saxophonist Has More Fire Than Most
Jazz musician, Aucklander Nathan Haines’ latest album The Poet’s Embrace, is “full of muscular playing and emotional bite,” according to Financial Times reviewer Mike Hobart. “Haines has more focus and fire than most who…
Opportunities for Sharing World Class Technology
New Zealander Richard Watson had the unusual pleasure of sharing his Burke County farm in Georgia with visitors from home. “We bought this property in 2007, and here currently, we’re milking 560 cows,” he…
Posthumous Novel Palpably Alive
“In the Memorial Room is not just a brilliant novel but a considered and poignant posthumous literary act, a curtain call by one of the world’s greatest authors, New Zealander Janet Frame, who died…
Novel Makes German Awards Shortlist
New Zealand author Lloyd Jones’ novel Hand Me Down World is one of six books to make the shortlist for Germany’s International Literature Award 2013. For the awards, 136 titles were submitted translated from…
All That and Everest Too
The British expedition to the summit of Mount Everest in 1953, led by New Zealand mountaineer Edmund Hillary, was one memorable event of that year, “a summer sixty years ago when all seemed possible,”…
Soprano to Open Coronation Celebrations
Dame Kiri Te Kanawa will perform the British national anthem “God Save the Queen” in the gardens of Buckingham Palace in July to mark the 60th anniversary of the Queen’s coronation. Te…
Viennese Fashion Line Intrigues
New Zealand-born model and designer Mark Stephen Baigent’s line, Mark & Julia, created with Austrian Julia Rupertsberger, is stocked at Vienna retail fashion collective Faux Fox in the historic Naschmarkt area. The “intriguing”
Call to Save the Diminishing Longfin
New Zealand longfin eels are the National Geographic’s “Freshwater Species of the Week.” The threatened creatures are New Zealand’s only endemic freshwater eel and are on a “slow path to extinction,” according to an…
Anniversary of Death, Memories of Love
“This year marks the 90th anniversary of the death of Katherine Mansfield, who was famous for her short stories, sexual ambiguity and string of lovers,” Adam Sonin writes for the Hampstead…
No Justice nor Kings Permitted
New Zealand’s Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages has released an updated list of banned newborn names. In the past 12 years, the agency has had to turn down not one, not two, but…
Words of Praise for Lions Coach
World Cup-winning former All Blacks skipper Graham Henry believes New Zealander Warren Gatland, 49, is the perfect choice as Lions coach. “Warren is an outstanding coach with a wealth of experience,’ says Henry,…
Britten Bike Revs Up for Isle of Man Lap
One of the most iconic racing motorcycles of all time, the Britten V1000, brainchild of Christchurch-born John Britten, returns to the track on 26 August as part of the inaugural Classic TT Races…
Nature-led and Outstandingly Good
According to the World’s 50 Best Restaurants website, Attica is New Zealand chef “Ben Shewry’s innovative but nature-led Melbourne masterpiece”. Shewry “often rises before dawn to forage on the shore near…
Kentucky Eventing Win for Nicholson
Seven-time New Zealand Olympian Andrew Nicholson, 51, has won the Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event in the United States. Nicholson maintained his lead after the cross-country riding Quimbo, jumping a careful clear round in the…
Shrewd Choice for Poland Cook It Raw
New Zealand chef Ben Shewry is one of a selection of the “world’s finest chefs” to recall their experience of a Cook it Raw event for a recent Observer article. Shewry, who owns…
Record Heights over Franz Josef
“With a 19,500-foot parachute jump over New Zealand’s scenic South Island … one of the highest commercial sky-dives in the world that doesn’t require customised planes and breathing equipment,” The Wall Street Journal’s Chris…
Action-packed US Premieres for Bell
Auckland-born actress and stuntwoman Zoë Bell’s self-produced action/horror film Raze premiered at New York’s TriBeca Film Festival on 21 April. As well, Bell stars in Oblivion, alongside Tom Cruise, which also premiered last week….
Miss Popularity Exceeds Half a Million Likes
Sixteen-year-old Hawkes Bay student Jamie Curry has amassed over 500,000 likes on her Facebook page, Jamie’s World, which she began in July last year. Seven million people a week see videos, photos and status…
Looking on the Bright Side of Life
“The world’s most southerly capital city is a shining example of turning weaknesses into strengths,” David Whitley writes for Middle East newspaper The National. “Hemmed in between harbour and hills, Wellington simply doesn’t have…
Differences of Time on and off Set
Actor and winemaker Sam Neill, 65, talks to the South China Morning Post about corks, cows and why action films are duller than they look. “Making good films and good wines are both very…
Birds with Mirrors Take Flight for Australia
New Zealander Lemi Ponifasio’s dance works have been acclaimed by critics as nothing short of revelatory, spiritual, even. The self-taught choreographer’s productions, starring Polynesian dancers, have been staged to critical acclaim across the…
One of the World’s Best Guided Tours
Active Adventures New Zealand’s Five-Day ‘Kauri’ Essence of the North Island tour features in National Geographic Traveler’s eighth annual “50 of the World’s Best Guided Expeditions” list, which appears in the magazine’s May issue….
Keeping Track of North Korean News
Christchurch researcher Frank Feinstein has dedicated a website, to cataloguing dispatches from North Korea’s state media organization, Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). The website, called KCNA Watch, catalogues every KCNA English report on…
Ladyhawke Slips on Armani for Indie Cover
“Her songs like ‘Paris is Burning’ or ‘My Delirium’ are well-known all over the world, but hardly anyone knows her real name,” according to Austrian-based magazine, Indie – The Independent Style Magazine. “We…
Berlin Takes a Bite on Friedrichstrasse
Hamish Morrison Galerie in Berlin presents their first solo exhibition by New Zealand artist Billy Apple entitled “Apple sees red”, beginning 26 April. “The title for this exhibition ‘Apple sees red’ – in…
Mayfair Salon Opening for Designer
A brief internship with the jewellery department of Sotheby’s in London at the age of 25, has brought New Zealand fine jeweller Jessica McCormack to opening a 465-square-metre salon – The House –…
