The Guardian interviews Julie Maxton, the first female registrar of Oxford University since the role was created 550 years ago. Maxton previously worked with the Oxford vice-chancellor, fellow New Zealander John Hood, at Auckland…
America’s HBO network has commissioned a 12-part series based on Kiwi folk music parody duo Flight of the Conchords. Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement are to star in the series, which will feature…
NZ producers picked up a swathe of trophies at the 2006 Decanter World Wine Awards this month. The medal haul included 86 bronze, 36 silver and one gold medal, for the 2005 Sacred Hill Sauvignon Blanc….
NZ singer Hayley Westenra has been named one of the 10 outstanding young people in the world in the Junior Chamber International‘s prestigious annual awards (the Jaycees). The 19-year-old diva was selected from a pool…
September 1 saw the launch of the Kiwi Advanced Research and Education Network (KAREN) — a super high speed Internet service linking national universities and research institutions with their international counterparts. KAREN transmits data at a top…
The Royal NZ Ballet’s recent tour earned high praise in the Australian national media. The RNZB performed a trio of works by Christopher Hampson, Javier de Frutos and Michael Parmenter, collectively entitled Trinity. The…
Peter Jackson is heading a big budget remake of classic British war film, The Dam Busters. Jackson will produce the movie, with fellow Kiwi and long time collaborator, Christian Rivers, making his directing…
Kiwi Fox News cameraman, Olaf Wiig, has walked free after being held hostage for two weeks in Gaza. Wiig and Fox correspondent Steve Centanni were captured by a previously unknown militant group, the Holy…
Christchurch-born Producer/Host Phil Keoghan lined up for his fourth successive Emmy Award in Los Angeles for Outstanding Reality/Competition Program. The Amazing Race is now in its 10th season. Teams race for more than…
New Zealander Ron Holland is one of the world’s top naval architects. Based in the small Irish sailing port of Kinsale, his latest project is designing and building a 190-foot, $50 million superyacht Ethereal for Sun…
A NZ-led medical study has found that children around the world became more susceptible to common allergies during the 1990s. The research, which questioned parents and children in 56 different countries, found that rates of asthma, hayfever…
Natasha Bedingfield, has a cameo role in the sixth Rocky sequel, starring Sylvester Stallone. Originally asked to write and perform the film’s theme tune, she was convinced to make her on-screen debut by…
International visitors to NZ are expected to grow by 4% per annum to reach 3.1 million in 2012, according to a report by the Tourism Ministry. The main contributors to the growth are likely…
The All Blacks remain undefeated in 2006 having secured both Bledisloe and Tri-Nations trophies after a ferocious Eden Park test against Australia on 19 August. The victory puts Graham Henry’s team on the verge of breaking…
Kiwi wine exports hit a record high of half a billion dollars this year, according the New Zealand Winegrowers annual report. Pinot noir sales increased 55% to overtake chardonnay as NZ’s second most exported varietal, after perennial…
The Maori Queen, Dame Te Atairangikaahu died on Tuesday 15 August aged 75 after a 40-year reign. Dame Te Atairangikaahu was the sixth monarch of the North Island tribes who formed the King movement…
A Sydney Morning Herald travel writer takes in equal parts local history and jaw-dropping natural scenery at the Franz Josef and Fox Glaciers. “Tramping, walking and hiking have long been popular pastimes in this wildly picturesque region…
Kiwi Peter Bethune is now part way through a 30-city world tour aboard Earthrace, his unique biodiesel-fuelled powerboat. Since leaving NZ, Earthrace has visited Samoa, Vancouver, Portland, Seattle, Hawaii and San Francisco on its mission to promote…
The Rev Glynn Cardy of Auckland’s progressive Anglican church, St Matthew-in-the-City, recommends an overhaul of traditional liturgy in an opinion piece for the Guardian. Cardy believes that the gendered language and sometimes archaic metaphors…
Rotorua’s Mt Ngongotaha played host to the UCI World Mountain Bike Championships from August 23-27, the first time the event has been held in the southern hemisphere in ten years. The Rotorua cycling community had campaigned for…
The sale of Maori themed Halloween costumes by an American store has angered Maori leaders. Halloween Town in Los Angeles is advertising the Maori Facial Tattoo Kit for $US10. Rotorua academic Ngahihi o te ra…
The Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra has launched a new initiative to dress visiting international soloists in NZ designs. For the APO’s recent ‘Russian Spectacular,’ pianist Marina Kolomiytseva wore a Liz Mitchell gown and presenter Elena…
South Canterbury sheep farmers Philip and Anne Munro won a lucrative US contract to supply wool for the tennis balls used at the US Open. The couple hosted American tennis ball producers Tex Tech and Wilson’s…
Rainbow Warrior bombers Dominique Prieur and Alain Mafart have lost a third court appeal to prevent TVNZ from screening footage from their 1985 trial. Three NZ appeal court judges unanimously granted the channel permission to air…
Weta Digital is to provide special effects for upcoming Hollywood blockbuster Avatar. Directed by James Cameron, the US$200 million sci-fi epic will be almost entirely made up of computer generated action. Cameron used…
A group of NZ bars has developed a novel method of curbing excess drinking. Unruly patrons can be yellow or red carded depending on their degree of intoxication – yellow cards preventing drinkers from…
NZ ranks 94th out of 178 countries in the inaugural Happy Planet Index, produced by independent British “think-and-do tank” the New Economics Foundation. The Happy Planet Index (HPI) measures human well-being in relation to…
The tense, edgy feel of the Emmy Award-winning series 24 is largely propelled by the work of New Zealander Rodney Charters csc asc, who has been Director of Photography for all five…
Veils front man Finn Andrews is compared to Tom Waits, John Lennon and Nick Cave in a glowing Guardian review. “Andrews’ voice is no longer that of an anguished child, but the trembling…
New Zealand is the 18th happiest nation in the world, according to the first ever “world map of happiness.” Produced by Adrian White of Leicester University’s School of Psychology, the map uses data from the CIA,…
Kiwi Carly Arnold has been named one of British magazine Management Today‘s 35 women under 35 for 2006. Arnold, 29, studied engineering and business at Auckland University and worked for Air NZ before landing a business…
During his dance career Douglas Wright was said to resemble Nijinsky in his face, his flair and his soaring leap. He now has the taut, high cheekbones, full lips and furrowed brow of…
Sam Neill charmed the British film press while promoting his latest UK release, Little Fish. Guardian: “In the Q&A session that followed , his performance as Sam Neill was as compelling as…
The Guardian pays tribute to the jandal/thong/flip flop – a welcome arrival in Britain given the recent heatwave. A brief history of the humble rubber shoe attributes its commercial origins to the NZ Jandal,…
Six NZ musicians spent three weeks in Sao Paulo, Brazil, as part of the Bacardi B-Live OE, organised by Bacardi and Wellington’s Loop Recordings. P Digsss (Shapeshifter), Barnaby Weir (Black Seeds, Fly My…
Ngati Tuwharetoa chief Tumu te Heuheu has been named chairman of the UN World Heritage committee, the global supervisory body for cultural and natural heritage sites. PM Helen Clark described the appointment as a “momentous achievement,” and…
Temuera Morrison talks to Japan’s CrissCross News about the NZ film industry, his plans for the future, and his now legendary portrayal of Jake Heke in Once Were Warriors. “I was in Sweden signing…
NZ’s first supercar, the Hulme.F1, secured a rare invitation to show at Britain’s prestigious Goodwood Festival of Speed. The annual event showcases the latest designs by big names Ferrari, Maserati and Aston Martin, as well as…
Flying Nun legends the Chills are the unlikely inspiration behind up-and-coming Swedish band Peter, Bjorn and John. The indiepop trio pay tribute to Dunedin’s finest with a song titled The Chills, on their third…
An entrepreneurial NZ website is selling words for SUS1 each in a bid to create a one-of-a-kind multi-authored novel. The brains behind anovelmillion.com is Australian born Aditya Kesarcodi-Watson. “Anybody is capable of buying…
2006 has seen a rash of advertising and design taking inspiration – with varying degrees of offensiveness – from Maori art and culture. An Italian ad for the Fiat Idea showing a group of…
Peninsula, the latest play from NZ writer Gary Henderson, is applauded in Brisbane’s Courier Mail. Commissioned by the Christchurch Arts Festival, the play was inspired by Henderson’s own experience growing up in Duvauchelle Bay,…
Groundbreaking NZ anthropologist, Michael Jackson, currently Visiting Professor in World Religions at Harvard Divinity School, has released his memoirs. Titled The Accidental Anthropologist, the book details his nomadic lifestyle since leaving NZ as…
Titirangi’s Brake House features in architecture magazine Monument’s inaugural guide to Australasia’s seminal residential projects. Designed by Auckland architect Ron Sang, the Japanese-inspired house was built for world-famous NZ photojournalist Brian Brake in 1976….
NZ director Vincent Ward relates the harrowing experience of filming River Queen in a candid interview with the Sydney Morning Herald. Weather, illness and car crashes aside, it was lead actress Samantha Morton who…
Oscar winning actor Denzel Washington made a fleeting visit to Wellington in June to discuss a possible film project with Peter Jackson. According to Wellington’s Dominion Post, Washington wants Jackson’s Weta Workshop and Weta…
The Kiwi ad industry once again proved its strength on the global stage, picking up a slew of awards at this year’s Cannes Lions Advertising Awards. Saatchi & Saatchi won a Gold Lion in the media…
In the era of selling Britney Spears’ used chewing gum on eBay, Adidas has released a limited edition All Blacks poster containing DNA samples from every member of the national team. According to Chris…
The EU is instructing struggling European winemakers to follow the example of their increasingly successful New World counterparts in NZ, Australia, and America. The “wine lake” situation in Europe has now reached crisis point, with one in…
The Musée du Quai Branly, French President Jacques Chirac’s long-awaited €235.2 million shrine to indigenous art, was officially inaugurated on June 21 in Paris. The Quai Branly boasts a collection of 300,000 works from Africa, Asia, Oceania…
Rotorua’s famed Pink and White Terraces – destroyed in the 1886 Mt Tarawera eruption – are being replicated 8km away at Wairakei by businessman Jim Hall. The original staircase-like tiers of pink and…
NZ dairy giant Fonterra has established a strong foothold in Australia’s eastern states thanks to a crucial new partnership with Lismore-based co-op, Norco. Under the agreement, Norco will provide the manufacturing facilities and supply milk to the…
Kiwi actor Martin Henderson is currently walking the boards at London’s Apollo Theatre with a lead role in Sam Shepard’s Fool For Love. Henderson stars alongside American actress Juliet Lewis (Natural Born Killers) in…
The Queen’s official 80th birthday was marked in suitably sumptuous fashion, with a 4-course lunch at Mansion House for more than 350 guests. The four British chefs charged with overseeing the dinner won the honour after competing…
International archery associations and Olympic committees have paid tribute to Neroli Fairhall, who has died aged 61. Fairhall won a gold medal in archery for NZ at the 1982 Commonwealth Games in…
Exponents Tourism NZ’s consumer website newzealand.com, designed by Shift, has won the Webby award for best tourism website in the world for a second time. Known as the Oscars of the internet,…
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