Skunk Shot, an odorous gel developed by Victoria University scientists, has become police issue in several US cities, including LA and Richland County, Colombia. Originally designed as a cat and dog repellent, Skunk Shot is being used…
Boston Herald profiles 20-year-old singer/ songwriter Finn Andrews, son of XTC and Shriekback keyboardist Barry Andrews. Andrews left NZ at 16, formed his band The Veils in London, and spent 5 years recording an…
Auckland athlete Nathan Richmond won his first ITU World Cup triathlon in Newfoundland, Canada. The Corner Brook event is regarded as one of the toughest on the international circuit. “This win proves that I am a worthy…
Kiwi Jo Aleh won silver at the ISAF World Youth Championships in Poland, finishing second in the Laser Radial class. “I’m stoked!” she said in Scoop. “It was a hard regatta with such different conditions, it’s been tricky sailing…
Auckland University student John Chen was the overall winner at the 8th Sydney International Piano Competition, held June 30 – July 17. The 18-year-old competed against 36 rigorously selected players from around the world,…
The All Blacks beat Australia 16-7 in miserable Wellington conditions to retain the Bledisloe Cup for the first time in seven years. Guardian: “For all the major effect the elements had in ruining this contest as a…
An Australian feature by Claire Harvey likened the Israeli passport scandal to the infamous Rainbow Warrior incident of 1985. PM Helen Clark has cut diplomatic ties with Israel until an official apology and explanation is offered stating,…
Veteran Auckland performer and Grand Master of Magic, Tony Wilson, was recently inaugurated as President of the International Brotherhood of Magicians. The Brotherhood was founded in the early 1920s and comprises nearly 15,000 magicians globally.
Sam Neill is to star in a BBC Two adaptation of William Golding’s acclaimed sea trilogy, To the Ends of the Earth. Directed by David Attwood, the three 90-minute programs will be filmed in…
Otago University’s Dr Murray Barrett joined a team of scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Boulder, Colorado examining teleportation via quantum information processes. The group’s groundbreaking findings – which proved that it is possible to…
NZ company Silverscreen is collaborating with British and Taiwanese financiers on a film version of an ancient Chinese legend. Lady White Snake will be filmed in English with a budget of US$40 million. Cast…
The Black Caps cruised to victory in the NatWest ODI tri-series against England and the West Indies, beating the latter by a resounding 107 runs in the final. Daniel Vettori was named Man of the Match for…
Teddy Tahu Rhodes has won over American critics with his starring role in Cincinnati Opera’s Don Giovanni. Cincinnati Enquirer: “As murderous rakes go, Rhodes wielded considerable charm … voice combined…
Eminent lexicographer Robert W Burchfield has died aged 81. The Wanganui-born scholar rose to fame as editor of the 4-volume Supplement to the Oxford English Dictionary. The massive undertaking took nearly 30 years to complete -…
The Silver Ferns crushed traditional rivals Australia in a historic 3-0 series win – their first clean sweep against Australia since 1989. The Ferns won the final match 53-46, after trailing for much of the game. Australian…
The death of ground-breaking NZ filmmaker Mike Walker was noted in the Scotsman, Miami Herald, and LA Times. Walker worked asa director, co-producer and co-writer on the films Kingi’s Story, Kingpin and…
Billionaire US adventurer Steve Fossett continues to attempt to break the world glider altitude record from his South Island base in Omarama. Wind levels have been unsatisfactory so far.
NZ ballroom dancer Brendan Cole won the BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing contest with celebrity partner Natasha Kaplinsky. Hosted by Bruce Forsyth, the series was one of the surprise hits of…
Peter Jackson was ranked 20th in pay and 12th overall in Forbes’ annual Celebrity 100 List. The accompanying feature was full of praise for NZ’s newest national hero. “Filmmaker Peter Jackson – assiduously disheveled,…
New York Times profiles Tiger Woods’ right-hand man, Kiwi Steve Williams. “If Tiger Woods wanted a meek caddie, he would not have hired Steve Williams … Powerfully built, meticulously prepared and fiercely loyal, Williams has successfully partnered…
NZ wines scored a slew of major awards at America’s largest and most prestigious wine show – the San Francisco International Wine Competition. Best in Show awards went to the 2002 Lake Hayes ‘Amisfield’…
NZ company Designer Textiles has won a contract with sports apparel company Nike. Nike has agreed to use Designer Textiles’ merino advanced performance program (MAPP) in manufacturing its ACG range of outdoor sports shoes. The AGC range will…
Wallpaper* pays homage to the Kiwi bach, in its most highly evolved form. “Baches built today reflect the increased value of the land – they’re less rustic and more expensive to build – but…
Dunedin born dancer/choreographer Carol Brown has won two major European awards; the NESTA (National Endowment for Science, Technology & the Arts) Dream Time Award in the UK, and the Ludwig Forum International Art…
NZ wine producers are going for quantity as well as quality, with 2004 officially the largest vintage on record. At 166,000 tons, the national harvest was 40% higher than the previous high of 118,700 tons in 2002….
Two crushing wins over England and a scratchy performance against Argentina started the Graham Henry-coached, Tana Umaga-led 2004 All Blacks. Coverage from The Independent on the victories at Carisbrook, Eden Park, and Hamilton. Next…
Ireland was “forced to acknowledge New Zealand’s continuing supremacy” at the IRB U-21 World Championships in Scotland, going down 47-19 to the junior All Blacks. NZ’s stellar performance included a hat-trick of tries by flanker Tony Koonwaiyou….
Telemovie adaptations of Shane Maloney’s novels Stiff and The Brush Off by NZ comic John Clarke were a critical and ratings success in Australia, the former netting more than 1.3 million viewers on…
New Zealand-born political cartoonist for the Daily Telegraph since 1966, Nicholas Garland has provided 40 woodcut illustrations for the new Novela by son Alex “The Beach” Garland. The book describes the dream-like interior life…
Christchurch surfer Doug Young won the ‘Deep Throat’ award at the 2004 Red Bull Big Wave event in South Africa. The ‘Deep Throat’ prize goes to the “hardest charger” – the surfer who braves the biggest, messiest waves without…
Lynley Allison won her first Ironman title at the 2004 Ironman USA Coeur d’Alene triathlon in Coeur d’Alene. She finished a full 10 minutes ahead of second place getter Heather Gollnick (US), after taking an unshakeable lead…
Fay Weldon’s autobiography – Auto Da Fay – featured in the New York Times‘ New and Noteworthy Paperbacks section. “Unlike many of the female characters in her dozens of breezy novels, Weldon comes off…
The NZ Antarctic Society has bestowed a belated but heartfelt honour on Scotsman Harry McNeish, who was the carpenter aboard Ernest Shackleton’s Endurance on its ill-fated Antarctic voyage. A life-size sculpture of McNeish’s pet cat – Mrs…
Kim Crawford’s 2003 Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc took top honours at the Sélections Mondiales des Vins in Montreal, winning the Grande Médaille d’or (grand gold) in its category as well as the Prix du Jury décernés par pays…
Haere atu koutou hei whetu te rangi, tiaho mai mo ake tonu atu. He tohu aroha ki tenei morehu kuia. Rahera Windsor, spiritual leader of Britain’s Maori community, died May 3rd 2004 Born in Pupuke, 1925, she married…
Three preserved heads (moko mokai) of Maori warriors have been returned to NZ by the Kelingrove Art Gallery in Glasgow. The action comes after a worldwide search for Maori remains by Te Papa Tongarewa. Maori specialists…
Waikato University graduate Craig Nevill-Manning is Director, New York & Senior Staff Research Scientist for the world’s leading search engine company, Google. Nevill-Manning completed a PhD in computer science at Waikato before taking up a post-doctoral fellowship…
Two NZ short films have been selected to compete at both the Montreal World Film Festival in August and the Valladolid International Film Festival in Spain in October; Boy,…
The Statesman talks to nomadic NZ writer, Will Marks, about his ongoing love affair with India while reviewing his debut novel, The Highway. “I didn’t have a lot of expectations of India but when…
In a feature on celebrity hobbies, the Observer advises fans of sky-diving enthusiast Nicole Kidman to head to Queenstown. After all, “if you’re going to take the plunge, you might as well do it at one of…
Marina Warner recommends Anne Salmond’s The Trial of the Cannibal Dog: Captain Cook in the South Seas as essential holiday reading in the Guardian‘s annual summer poll of leading authors, journalists, and critics. “The historian…
British celebrity gardener, Charlie Dimmock, named NZ as her preferred home-away-from-home in an interview with The Independent. “If I had to to New Zealand. They have an’outdoors’ lifestyle,’ and people are more active.”
A NZ themed restaurant – The Kiwi Grille – is doing a roaring trade in Newburyport, Massachusetts. According to owner Bruce deMustchine (ex-Hawkes Bay), the Grille served 10,000 happy customers in its first 8…
The first ever Cocktail World Cup was held in Queenstown over the Winter Festival, which began June 25. The 5-day event is the brainchild of NZ’s 42- Below vodka, which recently won gold at the World Spirits…
John O’Loghlen (NZ investment banker at Goldman Sachs, NY) and Rosa Volz (Wellington IT worker) were the first non-Mongolian man and woman respectively to finish the 42km Mongolia Sunrise to Sunset Marathon, “one of the toughest and…
Team NZ has finally announced its challenge for the 2007 America’s Cup in Valencia, Spain, thanks to a multimillion dollar sponsorship deal from Dubai-based Emirates Airlines. The syndicate has missed two previous confirmation dates due to lack…
Ex-Black Cap Craig Spearman broke W.G Grace’s record for the best ever innings in an English county cricket match, hitting a staggering 341 runs for Gloucester against Middlesex. The legendary Grace made 318 not out for Gloucester…
C.K Stead reviewed the late Michael King’s Penguin History of New Zealand for the Times Literary Supplement, making some keen observations of his own on the subject. “If it were possible to subtract…
Barbara Anderson’s latest novel, Change of Heart, warmly reviewed in the Times Literary Supplement: “With the authority of experience Anderson captures perfectly the foibles, prejudices, anxieties and joys of the kind of septuagenarian who…
In My Father’s Den opened this year’s Sydney Film Festival – the first time a NZ feature has done so in the event’s 50-year history. Directed by Brad McGann, the film is based…
Professor Peter Molan of Waikato University’s Honey Research Unit was the subject of a BBC feature on the healing power of honey. Molan hopes to take his area of expertise to the world via revolutionary wound dressings,…
Groundbreaking research into the origins of Polynesian people by Auckland University’s Lisa Matisoo-Smith has been published in the New York Times, National Geographic, and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Matisoo-Smith used the DNA of Pacific…
NZ held on to its world series rugby sevens crown for the fifth year in a row, despite losing 22-19 to England in the final of the London leg. The Kiwis had already reached an unassailable position…
The world commemorated the 60th anniversary of D-Day on June 6, with war veterans and international leaders (including PM Helen Clark) gathering in France to pay their respects. NZ lost more soldiers proportionately than any other country…
“Self-catering in NZ has never been sexier.” The Observer rates four of the North Island’s most luxurious retreats; the Glass House on Waiheke Island (“this is a beach house in the same way that…
The Return of the King won the coveted prize for Best Film at this year’s MTV Awards in LA. Other big winners were Pirates of the Caribbean and Kill Bill Vol.1.
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