News of New Zealanders via Global Media

Chill of Fame

Chill of Fame

Russell Crowe would be the crowd-pulling choice to play Earnest Shackleton in the bio-pic Endurance, about the ill-fated South Pole expedition of 1914-15. Did you know: captain of Shackleton’s epic Artic voyage was NZ…

In with their idols A-Z

In with their idols A-Z

Kiwi pin-up boys of rock Zed sign with Interscope for American release of Silencer. Interscope artists include Eminem, Dr Dre, Weezer and U2. “To be put in the same context as all our idols…

Driving On

Driving On

Eric Bailey-Balfour, 99, of Timaru passes his “very easy” driving test and gets a cake from the AA.

Whiff of Health

Whiff of Health

Edge-designed disease-detecting super-nose could lead to a revolution in doctoral diagnosis, as well as having commercial applications in the oil and gas industry.

Riding High

Riding High

Kiwi wonder-kid jockey Michael Walker rides  for Aussie trainer Lee Freedman at the Anniversary Cup in Queensland.  

Government Wind

Government Wind

New Zealand government brings wind power to Pakistan’s Gwadar district.

Polished Knowledge

Polished Knowledge

“Digital Libraries hold the possibility that we might regain perspective on the billions of pieces of information in the web ocean.” In particular, DL system Greenstone, created by Dr Witten of Waikato University, offers an online…

Eco-powering Taranaki

Eco-powering Taranaki

Small-scale mixed-source energy generation at Pioneer Village “brings a little closer the prospect of freeing consumers forever from rising power bills and the guilt of contributing to pollution and climate change.”

The Lion Doesn’t Sleep Tonight

The Lion Doesn’t Sleep Tonight

‘If you must know, I woke up at two o’clock. My mind was racing. I tried to read for a bit, dropped off and woke again at four thirty. Mind racing again.” Lions coach kiwi Graham…

Get Up Stand Up – Kiwi Cultural Laboratory

Get Up Stand Up – Kiwi Cultural Laboratory

New Zealand doesn’t get the attention it deserves as a “kind of cultural laboratory for issues such as the rights of indigenous inhabitants or the equality of women”.

Brits take to New Girl

Brits take to New Girl

Emily Perkins’s The New Girl: “The atmosphere of summer, youth and restlessness in a social backwater is strong, as is the projection of Miranda’s intriguing personality and its effect on Julia, her brightest pupil….

You Can’t Beat Them

You Can’t Beat Them

New Zealanders – the world’s biggest consumers of ice-cream.

Van Dyke Taken to Heart

Van Dyke Taken to Heart

Former South African International Netballer Irene Van Dyke picks up public choice player of the year as New Zealand fans claim her as one of their own.

Schuster, Stoppard, Sauvignon

Schuster, Stoppard, Sauvignon

The 1999 Montana Reserve Sauvignon Blanc (“my homage to Michael Schuster”) is a current favorite of British women’s-health guru Dr Miriam Stoppard. This New Zealand example is ‘fresh and rich and slightly oaky with a really lovely…

Advice to Note

Advice to Note

Icon of NZ music remembered. Composer Douglas Lilburn, 85, found a “distinctive voice from his native New Zealand.” The Guardian praises the “strong emotional appeal” of his music, noting that Lilburn  took to heart…

Island Export

Island Export

Treasure Island, Survivor – love them or loathe them “reality” means ratings. With a patent on the format Treasure Island is a New Zealand export success for Touchstone Productions.

Origin Controversy

Origin Controversy

Is every living thing on earth descended from a heat loving bacteria – or are we, as Dr Anthony Poole of Massey University suggests, all really aliens on our own planet?

School’s dinner

School’s dinner

On the heels of his hotly anticipated new venture Providores, edge fusion food-man Peter Gordon spurns the celeb-chef cliche for knife-wielding cruelty and cooks top notch cuisine to raise funds for a new school…

Palliser Palate Thriller

Palliser Palate Thriller

“My top pick Vintages white is a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc that thrills the palate: Palliser Estate 2000 Sauvignon Blanc.”

Springsteen: Born to Shine

Springsteen: Born to Shine

New Zealand astronomer names star after star.  

Historian Remembered

Historian Remembered

Professor Neville Phillips – erudite, open-minded “sometimes spiky”. One of New Zealand’s leading historians, remembered for the day he stood up to Rob Muldoon in defence of the university and intellectual freedom. Neville Phillips: Died July 2001

Dealing to the Queen

Dealing to the Queen

It’s only a matter of time before New Zealand becomes a republic says PM Helen Clark, stressing that it’s still not a high priority.  

Yankee Dangle

Yankee Dangle

Want thrills? Inhale the air  head to Queenstown for “utter exhilaration” and the town Bill Clinton called the “most beautiful place on earth.”  

Easy-over or Sunnyside Up?

Easy-over or Sunnyside Up?

Which ever way you flip it, global warming will affect every part of New Zealand – but perhaps we’re among the lucky ones?

ANZAC Bond

ANZAC Bond

On April 25, 1935, Ataturk, the great general who masterminded the historic Turkish defensive victory at Gallipoli said, “Wipe away your tears. Your sons are now resting in our bosom and are at peace.” Words symbolic…

Miracle Reading

Miracle Reading

Reading Recovery, developed by New Zealand’s Dame Marie Clay, means results at a Toronto Public School where staff “watched miracles unfold” after the programme was introduced.

First class performance

First class performance

New Zealand student Geoff Pinfield gains a first class degree and the inaugural Simon Callow prize for Theatre Criticism at Queen’s University, Belfast.

Mini Scandal

Mini Scandal

The Christine Rankin case causes an outbreak of nostalgia for the mini-skirt.

Financial Future Rosy

Financial Future Rosy

Finance Minister Michael Cullen optimistic about New Zealand’s economic future despite the global slowdown.  

Trickster Wasp

Trickster Wasp

Newly discovered New Zealand parasitic wasp creates a whole new insect family – Maamingidae, named after the Maori word for trickster, because it has taken so long to come to light.

Hogg Headed

Hogg Headed

New Zealand-born and educated scholar and teacher James F. Hogg appointed to head Western State University College of Law.

Maori Leader Born

Maori Leader Born

July 3 is the anniversary of the birth of Maori leader and MP Sir Apirana Ngata in Kawakawa, 1874.

Writing With a Cause

Writing With a Cause

Working for international NGOs appeals to journalists as “an honorable route forward”, including former New Zealand reporter Brendan Parry, now working for Amnesty International, where there is “a huge amount of recognition if you do good work”….

The New IT Kiwis

The New IT Kiwis

“We should be treating any skilled, IT-qualified immigrant to New Zealand like gold,” says Auckland Regional Chamber of Commerce head Michael Barnett.

Bach Symphony

Bach Symphony

Design/style bible Wallpaper scours the globe to compile a directory of the best architects to pick if you’re thinking of home improvements and includes the “sparklingly clear vision” of edge architects Fearon Hay. Inspired…

Clean as a Whistle

Clean as a Whistle

New Zealand comes up smelling of roses, second equal behind Finland in the world anti-corruption rankings.

Intimate work

Intimate work

New Zealand actress Kerry Fox generates massive buzz for her award-winning work in Patrice Chereau’s Intimacy, based on the metro-culture sex and angst stories of Hanif Kureishi. For Fox, the film was about “braving…

Another Shade of White

Another Shade of White

Bridget Jones not withstanding, the reign of Chardonnay is over – Sauvignon Blanc is the white of the moment, and Marlborough’s “peppery, citrus driven” offerings have set the contemporary standard.  

Healthy Holiday

Healthy Holiday

Allergic to mold? Your best holiday destination is “a snow-capped New Zealand mountain above the Pacific” where the elevation, snow, and ocean breezes kill dust mites and mold.

Out of the Roo’s Pouch

Out of the Roo’s Pouch

New Zealand’s continued “innate patriotism and pride” make a political merger with Australia unlikely, but economic convergence is welcome says foreign minister Phil Goff.

Landing the big one

Landing the big one

Turner New Zealand baits the hook for US seafood buyers with on-demand video demonstrations by celebrity chefs and NZ-fresh fish delivered to the door. Not only is Turner’s food the finest gourmet offering,…

International Peak

International Peak

New Zealand-born Rhys Millen drives over the competition, posting a record-breaking 11 minutes, 58.53 seconds in the 79th Pikes Peak International Hill Climb.  

My brilliant career

My brilliant career

Jurassic action hero and “rugged individualist” Sam Neill gets the NY Daily News career review: “tall, handsome, fiftyish, New Zealand accent”. And Neill wonders at the anonymity despite the star turns: “people will come…

The new girl

The new girl

Emily Perkins is “an adventurous writer” whose recent novel, The New Girl is an “ambitious work, rich with creative tension”, and a “huge leap” for a writer whose first two books met with critical…

Sandwich Wars

Sandwich Wars

How do Americans explain the antipodean phenomenon of Vegemite? “It looks like a mixture of kangaroo poop and old motor grease, but it doesn’t taste as good as either.”

Crackers Rowers

Crackers Rowers

Former New Zealand representative sailor Dominic Mee and his best buddy Tim Welford are half way across the Pacific in a rowboat named Crackers.

Well Crafted

Well Crafted

New Zealand-born Alice Beatrice Waymouth was a noted silversmith, enameler and jeweler. Her daughter Judith Hughes, now 89, is “a cabinetmaker and  designer who reached the top of a male dominated profession” and was dubbed “Miss Chippendale”…

The Fox Boy

The Fox Boy

Comment on Peter Walker’s “fascinating” biography of William Fox Omahuru, the Maori boy abducted to be raised by Sir William Fox, future New Zealand PM. A tale of colonialism told with “doggedness, intelligence and…

Emily’s choice

Emily’s choice

British-based New Zealand writer Emily Perkins sat on the all-powerful all-girl jury for the Orange Prize, Britain’s major literary award for women only. Also, Perkins comments on the double jury battle of the sexes controversy…

Gentleman Amateur

Gentleman Amateur

Mourning the days when tennis players had urbanity and looked like professors, Howard Jacobson, first time Wimbledon-watcher turns to the past for solace: “Bored with it, I take a turn around the museum and spend…

Jolly Jodphurs

Jolly Jodphurs

“Suave, tanned and wearing tight white jodphurs,” New Zealander Peter Grace is Britain’s best polo coach, teaching the rich and trendy to swing mallets and retain a firm seat at Ascot Park Polo Club.  

Where Everyone Gets Some Shares

Where Everyone Gets Some Shares

400 store managers at the Warehouse Group are to receive share options with a total value of $184 million, but Australian managers, working in newer, smaller stores will miss out.

Fairytale victory

Fairytale victory

Kiwi co-directed Shrek is “a computer-generated miracle. Based on William Steig’s 28-page book, the film puts forward the most marvellous case for the craziness of repressing fairytales since Sondheim’s musical Into the Woods.” But,…

Nearly There

Nearly There

“In principle, we are just about there. I want it and everyone wants it,” says former NZ-PM, WTO head Mike Moore, confirming his work on bringing China into the WTO has nearly reached its conclusion. …

Penguins Pegging Out

Penguins Pegging Out

Global warming, along with over-fishing and oil-spills, threatens penguin populations around the world says University of Otago penguin biologist Lloyd Davies.

On the Up

On the Up

A low dollar, good tourism revenues and buoyant international prices for our primary commodities are leading New Zealand towards an unexpectedly strong export-lead recovery, including a $95million current account surplus. Also, “It was a boomer,” says UBS Warburg…