NZ a Top Foodie Destination
The past 15 years have seen a seismic shift in NZ gastro-tourism, according to Telegraph wine columnist Susy Atkins. Since her last visit in 1992, NZ has shrugged off its reputation for “unappetising food, grim…
News of New Zealanders via Global Media
Champion Teen Eyes MX Crown
Hamish Dobbyn, a 15-year-old motocross rider from Warkworth, has won the 250cc four-stroke class at the Yamaha MX National Development Series in Australia. Next on his agenda is the World Junior Motocross Championships in…
Potential World Heritage Sites in NZ
UNESCO is considering three NZ locations as potential World Heritage Sites at the request of PM Helen Clark, who is also NZ’s Minister of Culture and Heritage. The Waitangi Treaty Grounds, Kerikeri Basin and…
Woods & Williams Still a Team
Steve Williams, Tiger Woods’ NZ-born caddie, has denied reports he is intending to end the pair’s lucrative eight-year partnership. “I have no idea where this has come from,” Williams told NZ’s Sunday Star-Times. “Perhaps Tiger may…
Watch This Space
Former All Black star Jonah Lomu believes he is back to his physical peak and will not rule out a return to rugby – or even a switch to rugby league. “It’s irrelevant what everyone else…
Precious Metal
NZ athletes won four gold, two silver and a bronze medal at last week’s rowing world championships in Lucerne, Switzerland. Gold medals were won by Mahe Drysdale (single scull), Georgina and Caroline Evers-Swindell…
No ordinary life
A new book about London literary marriages features NZ author Katherine Mansfield and her second husband, John Middleton Murry. Uncommon Arrangements: Seven Portraits of Married Life in London Literary Circles (1910-1939) by…
At home in Chelsea
Works by NZ artist Lisa Ferguson feature in the ID Please group show currently on at the Heidi Cho Gallery in New York’s renowned Chelsea gallery district. Her bold, large-scale pieces are described…
Barclay Founder Rates
NZ Barclay founder and president William J. Buechler gives NZ investments the thumbs up in a column for Forbes. Buechler predicts that NZ’s rising short-term interest rates, combined with Fonterra’s 27% share increase, the discovery of new…
Tech Blogger’s Global Reach
Lower Hutt is home to the world’s 28th most popular blog. Richard MacManus’s Read/Write Web, a social networking site devoted to Web 2.0 issues, receives around 25,000 page views a day. “It takes a lot…
Tee King
New Zealander Glenn Jones has won the US-based Threadless t-shirt design competition a record 17 times. Jones, the creative director at Auckland’s Dashwood Design studio, gets regular fan e-mail and has been featured on…
Crowded House on Love and Loss
An LA Times review finds Time on Earth, the new album by the recently reformed Crowded House, to be a moving exploration of love and loss. “Pop music reunions are, more often than not,…
Devastating simplicity
Mister Pip, the Commonwealth Prize-winning novel by Wellingtonian Lloyd Jones, is praised both for its lyricism and its deft handling of post-colonial issues in the Guardian. “The simplicity with which he describes the atrocities…
Health, Wealth and Honey
A NZ health company has teamed up with a German university to promote the use of manuka honey products to heal wounds, treat stomach and skin problems and, potentially, to help in the fight against cancer….
Auld Mug Stays with Swiss
Alinghi has successfully defended the America’s Cup, defeating Emirates Team NZ 5-2 in the best-of-nine series. The 2007 event was the closest in years, with the Swiss team winning the seventh race by a mere second….
A Rebel Remembered
British political figure Anne Gilman, “a rebel from New Zealand”, has died aged 76. Gilman was born in NZ and attended Canterbury University, where she founded the student magazine, Canta. Gilman’s daughter, Catherine, describes…
Soprano scales new heights
Gisborne-born soprano Marie-Adele McArthur graced Opera America’s home page for the month of June, with images and video of her acclaimed performance as Lina in Verdi’s Stiffelio. The Sarasota Herald-Tribune described her as “the…
Kiwi Joker Cracks UK
Hawera-born comic Ben Hurley, 27, has secured a seven-part sitcom with the BBC’s Radio 4. The series will co-star Hurley’s mentor and veteran comedian Andy Parsons, whose writing credits include Spitting Image and…
Fourth World Cup for Docherty
NZ Olympic silver medallist Bevan Docherty has won his fourth International Triathlon Union (ITU) World Cup at Edmonton, Canada. Docherty’s win is the culmination of seven straight top-eight finishes and boosts him to second place on the…
During Breaks New Ground
A groundbreaking study by NZ neuroscientist Matt During has been applauded in leading British medical journal, The Lancet. During has pioneered a controversial gene therapy for Parkinson’s Disease that involved inserting synthetic copies of human genes…
Lions Share
NZ agencies won 18 awards at this year’s Cannes Lions, the world’s most prestigious advertising awards. Auckland agency TBWA\Whybin won the Grand Prix award in both the Media and Promo categories for its ASB “Pago” and NZ Rugby…
Jeweller Finds Wonderland in NZ
British jeweller Alice Hughes has created a range of bespoke pieces inspired by NZ plants and sea life. She established Alice in Wonderland Jewellery in 2004 after undertaking an apprenticeship in NZ, where she…
Taking Issue with Food Miles
A UK Times eco-columnist’s suggestion to reduce food miles by drinking French rather than NZ wine has stimulated a response by NZ winemakers and politicians. She argued that transporting wines from France results in fewer greenhouse…
Eslinger in All Things Interactive
Tom Eslinger, worldwide interactive creative director for Saatchi & Saatchi, was president of the Cyber jury at this year’s Cannes International Advertising Festival. He spoke about the importance of ideas and the growing respect for media as…
Mind Over Matter
NZ neuroscientist Dr Kerry Spackman is working with Team McLaren to uncover the workings of a racing driver’s mind. “In most sports now, the modern athlete is pushing his brain to the limit,” he says….
Tour of Beauty
Times journalist Paul Grogan undertook a two-day kayaking tour of Abel Tasman National Park with local company Wilson’s Experiences. “Gaining in confidence, we rock-hop along the coast, ducking in and out of little lagoons and darting through…
Be a Tidy Kiwi
The iconic Bulford Kiwi in Wiltshire, England, has received a makeover courtesy of local military, scouts and civilian volunteers. The 128m high chalk figure was carved into Wiltshire’s Beacon Hill at the end…
Red Cross Honours NZ Nurse
Aucklander Marianne Whittington has been awarded the Red Cross’s highest nursing honour, the Florence Nightingale Medal. Whittington has undertaken 11 international aid missions for the organisation in the last 17 years, including dangerous assignments to…
Weisz on board for Lovely Bones
Oscar-winning English actress Rachel Weisz has signed on for Peter Jackson’s The Lovely Bones. Weisz will play the mother of the film’s dead narrator, in a role that has been significantly expanded from…
First NZ Star of Silver Screen
NZ’s first movie star has died in a Rotorua hospital aged 101. Witarina Harris, of Ngati Whakaue descent, was chosen by Universal Pictures to star as Princess Miro in the 1928 silent…
Wet Win in Vancouver
Whangarei triathlete Samantha Warriner has won the US $100,000 BG Triathlon World Cup in Vancouver, clawing back from 20th place to beat American Sarah Haskins and Australian Erin Densham in wet and cold conditions. “The rain coming…
New York falls for Sand Dancer
Sand Dancer, Valerie Reid’s documentary about Christchurch sand artist Peter Donnelly, received an honourable mention at New York’s Tribeca Film Festival in March. The award is the latest in a string of wins for…
Burger Boom
A restaurant chain founded by three New Zealanders has become one of the most successful businesses in the booming UK “posh burger” market. Gourmet Burger Kitchen was established six years ago by school…
Backstage Essential
NZ-born osteopath to the stars Garry Trainer has released a new book, Back Chat, with health writer Tania Alexander. Back Chat examines 40 individual case studies of back pain, identifying common causes and…
Glass half full
NZ glass artist Luke Jacomb has spent the past six years touring and building his reputation in the US. The second-generation glass artist (his father is the renowned John Croucher) has held studio…
Sellaband Springboard for NZ Rapper
Christchurch rapper Maitreya has found international fame through sellaband.com, a new social networking site for entrepreneurial music lovers. Sellaband allows users to buy “shares” in acts they think have the potential for major chart…
Balibo Deaths Back in Spotlight
The 1975 deaths of two Australian, two British and a New Zealand journalist in Balibo, East Timor, are back in the political spotlight after a Sydney inquest found conclusive evidence of deliberate murder and…
LV Victory Sees America’s Cup Rematch
Emirates Team NZ has demolished Luna Rossa 5-0 to win the Louis Vuitton Cup. Team NZ will now meet Swiss defender Alinghi in the America’s Cup best-of-nine series, beginning June 2003. In stark contrast to their usual…
Professional Outsider Remembered
World renowned mathematician and nuclear fusion sceptic Leslie Woods has died aged 84. Born in Reparoa, a tiny settlement between Rotorua and Taupo, Woods was the first student of Seddon Memorial Technical College to…
Brand Passion Paramount
Sean Fitzpatrick and the All Blacks are held up as inspiring examples for business leaders by American finance blogger, Jim Citrin: “No other sports franchise in the world has achieved a 72 percent winning percentage over…
Incredible Journey
After decades of international debate, Auckland University researchers have found the first concrete evidence that Polynesian explorers reached South America before Europeans. The research team, led by archaeologist Elizabeth A. Matisoo-Smith, used genetic analysis…
Stonyridge a Must-see
Waiheke Island’s Stonyridge vineyard featured in the Guardian’s top ten must-visit wineries, alongside Chateau Mouton Rothschild in Bordeaux and the Frank Gehry-designed Marques de Riscal in Rioja, Spain. Guardian: “Stonyridge is a cult winery with a global…
Top shelf Wellington author
Lloyd Jones has won the Commonwealth Writers Prize overall best book award for his novel Mister Pip. The NZ $27,400 cheque was presented to Jones at the Calabash Literary Festival in St Elizabeth, Jamaica,…
Loft vision
NZ-born architect David Howell’s vision for a disused Manhattan loft space earned a full-page feature in the New York Times. Located near Gramercy Park, the 35-by-20-foot rectangular space with 11-foot high ceilings dates from…
Top of His Game
New Zealander Bob Hayward has found success in the highly competitive US film industry. Based in Los Angeles, Hayward is the Chief Operating Officer and founding partner of Summit Entertainment, an independent distribution company…
Cinema Success Story
Auckland-based Vista Entertainment Solutionshas become one of the world’s leading cinema software providers since its launch in 1995. Vista’s systems, which run entire movie theatres from selling tickets to calculating studio royalties, are used in nearly 600…
Doyen of deconstructivism
NZ architect Mark Wigley is name-checked in Dwell magazine’s monthly Architectural Movements 101 section. Wigley’s famous Deconstructivist Architecture exhibition, with Philip Johnson, forms the basis of Dwell’s May article devoted to the…
Small fish hits big time
Greymouth singer-songwriter Steve Edwards has become a star in the UK without even releasing an album. A copy of One By One, a song from his upcoming Fish out of Water album, was…
Peace of Mind
NZ has been named the world’s second most peaceful country in the inaugural Global Peace Index, a study commissioned by Australian IT entrepreneur and philanthropist Steve Killelea and sponsored by peace advocates such as…
In the frame
Scottish author Andrew O’Hagan’s inspiring opening address at this month’s Sydney Writers’ Festival included mention of NZ literary great, Janet Frame. The author of Living in the Maniototo, The Edge of the Alphabet and…
New Zealander Heads Microsoft Innovation
NZ software architect Nigel Keam has spearheaded the development of Microsoft’s new Surface technology, the subject of much excitement and speculation in the computing industry. Surface is a tabletop PC device with a touch interface that uses…
Killer opportunity
Annie Crummer has been handpicked by the surviving members of Queen to sing on the remake of their best-selling single Another One Bites the Dust. The NZ singer caught the attention of Brian…
Skim Straight from the Cow
Scientists in NZ have found cows that produce skim milk naturally, a discovery that could potentially revolutionise the dairy industry. If researchers can identify the genes responsible for skim milk production, they could breed cows that produce…
Xero on the Money
A NZ online accounting software company has won the inaugural International Technium Challenge, a business planning competition sponsored by International Business Wales. Wellington-based Xero beat 19 entries from five other countries, winning the opportunity to open…
You Say Fish, I Say Fush
An Auckland University of Technology (AUT) study has found that the NZ accent has grown broader and less British over the past few decades. The change is most obvious in broadcasting, where newsreaders…
Fletcher Nets Formica
NZ manufacturing company Fletcher Building has bought the iconic Formica Corporation for US $700 million. Fletcher Building already owned the rights to Formica products in Australia and NZ – chief executive Jonathan Ling said the latest…
