Blog Archives

Silicon Valley Whizz Kids Pitch New Zealand

Silicon Valley Whizz Kids Pitch New Zealand

When American Matthew Monahan first visited New Zealand, the Silicon Valley software developer was struck by a sense of possibility, Bloomberg reports. Seven years later, the 33-year-old is helping the government lure other foreign entrepreneurs…

Coaching like a Good Marriage Says Bruce Edgar

Coaching like a Good Marriage Says Bruce Edgar

On a recent visit to Secunderabad, India, New Zealander Bruce Edgar met with coaches of the St John Sports Coaching Foundation. Talking to Telangana Today, Edgar said cricket has changed quite significantly from the…

Small Screen Gives Jane Campion New Space to Shine

Small Screen Gives Jane Campion New Space to Shine

In a review of Jane Campion’s Top of the Lake: China Girl, which is currently screening on BBC2 in the UK, the Guardian’s Sam Wollaston says that not only is lead Elisabeth Moss “mesmerising,…

Katherine Mansfield’s Garden Party Puffs Puffed

Katherine Mansfield’s Garden Party Puffs Puffed

Katherine Mansfield’s 1922 short story The Garden Party, set around the wealthy Sheridan family’s shindig, inspires Guardian columnist Kate Young to make a dessert from their elegant spread. That meant the cream puffs had come….

Newsman Peter Bale Hired by Wikipedia Founder

Newsman Peter Bale Hired by Wikipedia Founder

New Zealand-born former Reuters reporter Peter Bale, 52, has been hired by Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales as the founding editor of WikiTribune, which will bring together professional journalists and a community of volunteers to…

Start Getting Excited About Taika Waititi’s Thor

Start Getting Excited About Taika Waititi’s Thor

The Taika Waititi-directed Thor: Ragnarok might just be “one of the greatest Marvel movies ever,” according to Forbes contributor Dani Di Placido. It’s shorter, a lot was improvised, and it’s embracing the insanity of…

Soccer Great Wynton Rufer on the Asian Game

Soccer Great Wynton Rufer on the Asian Game

Former soccer star New Zealander Wynton Rufer, 54, now works, among other things, as a FIFA ambassador. Sports trade fair organisation, Internationale Fachmesse für Sportartikel und Sportmode (ISPO) talked with Rufer at ISPO Shanghai…

Harita Davies Finishes World’s Longest Foot Race

Harita Davies Finishes World’s Longest Foot Race

Aucklander Harita Davies, 42, has become the first New Zealand woman to attempt and finish the world’s longest foot race – the gruelling Self-Transcendence 3100 Mile Race, a course which spans nearly 5000km around…

Patricia Grace on Telling the Stories of Maori

Patricia Grace on Telling the Stories of Maori

Born in Wellington, 80 years ago, Patricia Grace is one of New Zealand’s most important writers, CBC Radio Canada writes. Her stories are inspired by her experiences growing up as the daughter of a…

Forest Trump Plant Trees in Opposition to Policies

Forest Trump Plant Trees in Opposition to Policies

New Zealand-based green group, Forest Trump, is mounting an effort to protest President Trump’s environmental policies by planting trees. The group was founded in March by British climate scientist and glaciologist Dan Price, American Ph.D….

Wainui Chemist Selected as Finalist for PhD Prize

Wainui Chemist Selected as Finalist for PhD Prize

Victoria University PhD candidate Ryan Schwamm, 26, has become the first New Zealander to be nominated for the prestigious Reaxys PhD Prize in chemistry, which recognises the best work being…

Mark Wilson Revives Ailing UK Insurer

Mark Wilson Revives Ailing UK Insurer

Aviva’s boss New Zealander Mark Wilson has batted off the suggestion that he might relinquish the chief executive job anytime soon as the insurer he once compared to a “couch potato” continues to spring…

Everything Old is New for Producer Lance Ferguson

Everything Old is New for Producer Lance Ferguson

Best known as the guitarist and leader of soul-funk band the Bamboos, New Zealand-born Lance Ferguson is a workaholic and one of Australia’s most prolific musicians. Ferguson also has a spread…

Danielle Cormack Sees Kenya’s Drought Firsthand

Danielle Cormack Sees Kenya’s Drought Firsthand

Danielle Cormack, the New Zealand-born actress well known for her on-screen roles in Australian television shows Wentworth, Rake and Deep Water, has spoken of her first-hand experience of the devastating impact of climate change…

Karaka Kitchen Makes Prestigious London Awards

Karaka Kitchen Makes Prestigious London Awards

A Karaka kitchen designed by Shane George is one of just two international entries to make the finals of the SBID International Design Awards in the KBB Design category. Winners…

Jacinda Ardern Shames TV Dinosaurs

Jacinda Ardern Shames TV Dinosaurs

Hours after taking office, Labour leader Jacinda Ardern, 37, faced down pundits asking if she planned on starting a family, a question rarely asked of men in politics. The Guardian takes a look at…

Darren Hughes UK’s New Electoral Reform Society CE

Darren Hughes UK’s New Electoral Reform Society CE

New Zealander Darren Hughes, who has just been named chief executive of the Electoral Reform Society (ERS), the UK’s leading democratic reform group, discusses his new role in a piece for the Huffington Post. “I…

Shearer Rowland Smith Beats World Record

Shearer Rowland Smith Beats World Record

Thirty-year-old New Zealander Rowland Smith has beaten the world record for the number of sheep sheared in an eight-hour period. Smith, who is from the Hawke’s Bay, sheared 644 sheep from four farms in Devon…

New Zealand’s Lauren Boyle Announces Retirement

New Zealand’s Lauren Boyle Announces Retirement

Freestyle swimming champion, Auckland-born Lauren Boyle, 29, has announced her retirement from competition. The announcement on Boyle’s Facebook page read: “And, that’s a wrap. I feel lucky to love the sport after…

Politician Jacinda Ardern Enjoys Rapid Rise

Politician Jacinda Ardern Enjoys Rapid Rise

Jacinda Ardern took over as New Zealand’s opposition leader just last week, but already she has prompted a flood of donations, taken a stance for women in the workplace and transformed what had been…

Phil Keoghan Captures Essence of NZ in New Show

Phil Keoghan Captures Essence of NZ in New Show

Phil Keoghan’s 16-year tenure as host of The Amazing Race means he never spends too much time in any given place. But in his off-time from jet setting around the world filming the show’s…

Phillis Meti Sets World Record for Longest Drive

Phillis Meti Sets World Record for Longest Drive

Long-drive competitor and defending world champion New Zealander Phillis Meti, 30, has broken the world record for women’s long drives in Denver with a figure of 371m. It did appear Meti’s ball made contact with…

New Zealand Mourns Death of Sir John Graham

New Zealand Mourns Death of Sir John Graham

Sir John Graham, widely known as DJ, has died at the age of 82. Graham was a former All Blacks captain, a respected educator and staunch opponent of apartheid. Graham represented New Zealand 53 times,…

Finding renewal in New Zealand’s Birthplace

Finding renewal in New Zealand’s Birthplace

“The cultural history distinctive and beautiful region at the far northern edge of the North Island – from the kauri forests to the Waitangi Treaty Grounds, from the colonial buildings and whaling…

Where the Locals Go in Wellington

Where the Locals Go in Wellington

From boutique shopping to cable car rides and all the best food in between, the National Geographic finds out how Wellingtonians take advantage of the capital city. “Wellingtonians go where the wind takes them,” Carrie…

Peter Gordon Likes Shelves Stocked With Memories

Peter Gordon Likes Shelves Stocked With Memories

New Zealand chef Peter Gordon tells the Guardian’s Anna Wilkins about the characteristics of his home kitchen for the newspaper’s regular column, A Cook’s Kitchen. “I used to come to Broadway Market on Saturdays and…

Para-Athlete Liam Malone Vows to Out Do Usain Bolt

Para-Athlete Liam Malone Vows to Out Do Usain Bolt

Nelson-born double para-athelete champion, Liam Malone, 23, says he will use technology to run faster than Olympic legend Usain Bolt within the next three years. Double-leg amputee Malone won gold in the T44 200m and…

Producer Noah Slee’s Music Superbly Infectious

Producer Noah Slee’s Music Superbly Infectious

A New Zealander with Tongan heritage, soul singer and producer Noah Slee threw himself into underground music, using it as a means for him to piece together how he truly felt about himself, Robin…

Amber Sainsbury Teams With Danny Boyle

Amber Sainsbury Teams With Danny Boyle

New Zealand-born Amber Sainsbury is founder and CEO of UK-based creative arts charity Dramatic Need, for which Oscar-winning film director Danny Boyle has served as a trustee since 2007. The charity’s South African flagship,…

Alaskan Rugby Grounds Impress Mangatainoka Team

Alaskan Rugby Grounds Impress Mangatainoka Team

Hamish Clentworth, the chairman of the visiting Mangatainoka Barbarians Rugby Club of New Zealand, was almost at a loss for words when he came upon the Alaska Mountain Rugby Grounds. Overlooking Anchorage is a rugby…

Charlotte Brynn Swims from Quebec to Vermont

Charlotte Brynn Swims from Quebec to Vermont

New Zealander Charlotte Brynn recently swam the 40.2km distance between Lake Memphremagog Magog, Quebec and Newport, Vermont in 13 hours and 28 minutes, the second time she has completed the swim. Brynn lives in Stowe,…

Jane Campion is a Clever Person Doing TV

Jane Campion is a Clever Person Doing TV

From Sweetie to The Piano, New Zealander Jane Campion has made some of cinema’s strangest, strongest films. So why has she switched to the small screen? The Guardian investigates. It is eight years since Campion,…

Duchess Of Cambridge Wears Wickstead on Europe Tour

Duchess Of Cambridge Wears Wickstead on Europe Tour

On the final day of her recent European tour, the Duchess of Cambridge took the chance to fly the flag for British-based fashion as she headed to Hamburg, wearing a dress designed by one…

Lost Gustav Holst Scores Turn Up in Tauranga

Lost Gustav Holst Scores Turn Up in Tauranga

No one is sure how the handwritten scores of English composer Gustav Holst ended up in the archives of Tauranga’s Bay of Plenty Symphonia, Jason Daley writes for the Smithsonian magazine. A couple of years…

Amber Doig Appointed Head Chef at The Butler

Amber Doig Appointed Head Chef at The Butler

New Zealand-born chef Amber Doig has taken the reins of Sydney’s Potts Point venue, The Butler. According to Australia’s Hospitality magazine, “Doig began her career under the watch of Sydney chefs James Viles and Vanessa…

Hoseah Partsch to Tour With Boy George

Hoseah Partsch to Tour With Boy George

Eighteen-year-old New Zealand-born Hoseah Partsch, who made it to The Voice Australia grand finale earlier this month, is preparing to tour with his mentor Boy George in Australia later this year. Partsch, who said he’s…

Arma Del Amor Take Back the Sea

Arma Del Amor Take Back the Sea

New Zealand-born duo Arma Del Amor premiere their latest single Taking Back the Sea, “blending soulful bass with striking visuals,” EDM-culture blog Magnetic Magazine writes in a review. “Arma Del Amor is made up of…

Standing up for Mince on Toast

Standing up for Mince on Toast

After American food website Eater published a recipe for good old-fashioned mince on toast, claiming it was a quintessentially British comfort food, Britons cried foul, that it had nothing to…

Gin Wigmore’s Love Hate Relationship With Streaming

Gin Wigmore’s Love Hate Relationship With Streaming

The New Zealander with the mighty voice Gin Wigmore is, like so many other recording artists, frustrated by the peanuts, which rain down from the world’s leading streaming service Spotify. Or let’s call it…

Chef Anna Hansen at Home in Her Own Kitchen

Chef Anna Hansen at Home in Her Own Kitchen

New Zealand-born chef Anna Hansen, of London’s The Modern Pantry, finally got to design her own kitchen. The result? She tells the Guardian she likes everything but the kitchen sink. “We didn’t have to do…

Peter Gunn Offers Up Sample Menus to Regulars

Peter Gunn Offers Up Sample Menus to Regulars

Ides chef New Zealander Peter Gunn has been covertly testing the palates of dedicated regulars at his Melbourne fine diner for a few months now with his Sample Tables, Nick Buckley writes for Broadsheet. “The…

Introducing NZ’s Style It Girls

Introducing NZ’s Style It Girls

Fashion has long had an obsession with “dressing like a French girl,” but the truth is that Paris isn’t the only city with seriously stylish residents. In their column “International It Girl,” industry news…

Beats 1 DJ Zane Lowe Chats to Highsnobiety

Beats 1 DJ Zane Lowe Chats to Highsnobiety

For music fans everywhere, Apple’s Beats 1 radio has become known as the definitive stop for breaking news of the musical variety. And it’s all thanks to the triumphant triumvirate of DJs who make…

New Zealand Poets Taking on the World

New Zealand Poets Taking on the World

If poetry makes you think of stuffy classrooms and impenetrable verse, think again. The BBC’s Holly Williams takes a look at the female poets revolutionising the art form, including New Zealand-based Lang Leav and…

Racer Mitch Evans Hits NY for ePrix

Racer Mitch Evans Hits NY for ePrix

Mitch Evans, the 23-year-old New Zealander racing for Team Jaguar, was a part of New York City ePrix’s inaugural field this year. Formula E is similar to Formula 1 racing, but the cars are electric….

Style Icon Kimbra to Perform at Dior Event

Style Icon Kimbra to Perform at Dior Event

Grammy Award-winning musician Kimbra, 27, will perform amongst a night of luxury food, wine and fashion at this year’s inaugural National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) Gala in Australia to be held on 26 August. “Kimbra…

Footwear Company Allbirds Opens Pop-Up in LA

Footwear Company Allbirds Opens Pop-Up in LA

New Zealander Tim Brown (pictured left), a former professional soccer player, noticed an opportunity in the footwear market for minimalist, nonperformance sneakers. So he reinvented a simple lace-up tennis shoe in soft New Zealand…

Bruce McLaren Tribute at Silverstone Classic

Bruce McLaren Tribute at Silverstone Classic

The 2017 Silverstone Classic will pay special tribute to racing legend New Zealander Bruce McLaren, one of the greatest names in motorsport history. Scheduled for 28-30 July at the Silverstone Grand Prix circuit in…

Andrew Nicholson Jumps to Barbury Podium Finish

Andrew Nicholson Jumps to Barbury Podium Finish

New Zealand show jumper Andrew Nicholson’s bid to claim a CIC*** class victory at the Barbury Horse Trials for the sixth year in succession came up just short after he had to settle for…

Alan Brough Making the Kids Laugh in Benalla

Alan Brough Making the Kids Laugh in Benalla

New Zealand-born comedian and children’s book author Alan Brough, who is best known to Australians as one of the team leaders on television’s Spicks and Specks musical quiz programme, was in Benalla, Victoria recently…

Fazerdaze Profile Grows Throughout Europe

Fazerdaze Profile Grows Throughout Europe

Fazerdaze is New Zealand-based singer-songwriter Amelia Murray and her band who weave blissful, echo-drenched and semi-electronic production through bounding bedroom pop songs, Nick Linazasoro writes for Brighton & Hove News. Fazerdaze performs in Brighton…

Artist Hayden Fowler’s Future Distant Australia

Artist Hayden Fowler’s Future Distant Australia

Australia’s history is the inspiration for four new exhibitions throughout Sydney in July, including Future Distant History by New Zealand-born, Sydney-based artist Hayden Fowler on at Artereal Gallery. “Fowler is interested in revealing the disparaging…

Singer Nadia Reid Making Her Way to Ireland

Singer Nadia Reid Making Her Way to Ireland

New Zealand singer-songwriter Nadia Reid, 25, plays the second performance of her 34-date UK/European tour at Galway venue Róisín Dubh on 10 August. “ released the excellent Preservation this year, and is a name to…

Fat Freddy’s Drop Can’t Seem to Tour Enough

Fat Freddy’s Drop Can’t Seem to Tour Enough

Arguably New Zealand’s most famous band, Fat Freddy’s Drop has just played another sold out show in Amsterdam. Communications strategist New Zealander Lucy von Sturmer talked with the band in the Netherlands’ capital where…

Secret Swims with Karen Walker on Waiheke

Secret Swims with Karen Walker on Waiheke

Designer and native New Zealander Karen Walker, who spends her holidays on Waiheke Island, gives Condé Nast Traveler her “summer hit list” for the magazine’s weekly edition of Summer Fridays – a weekly series…

Earth Live With Phil Keoghan for Nat Geo

Earth Live With Phil Keoghan for Nat Geo

Phil Keoghan has seen the world for 29 seasons as host of The Amazing Race. But the New Zealander had never seen the world the way he did on last week’s two-hour National Geographic…