Keeping it to Himself

Recent émigré to New Zealand, British media-specialist David Jeffries, 43, says he misses nothing about England in his new hometown of Auckland where he runs the award-winning company Mere Mortals, which also has an office in Newcastle, UK. “Some people might see my move as a backward step: I hear the stereotypes about New Zealand loud and clear,” Jeffries told the Financial Times. “It’s uncultured, it’s at the end of the world, it’s Hicksville … ‘Good’, I say. I want people to believe that. I don’t want them here to spoil the place. I spend my spare time beach walking most days, swimming, going out fishing on a friend’s boat, driving my convertible in the sun or having weekend trips away in the camper van. The UK could never offer me what I have here. [Auckland] lifts my soul. It means I’m home, it means I made it, it means “I’m living the dream”. Mere Mortals has worked on computer graphics for films including Slumdog Millionaire, 28 Weeks Later and Sunshine.