Julian "Joe" Bennett (born 20 April 1957) is an English-born author, columnist and playwright living in Lyttelton, New Zealand. He is the author of more than 20 books, and writes for Christchurch newspaper The Press in columns syndicated throughout New Zealand.
"He’s the People’s Columnist, a great prose stylist, funny and original, a scholar and a humanist, firmly on the side of common sense... He reveres Waugh but his model is closer to Orwell, that master of direct speech." Steve Braunias. [1]
Born in Eastbourne, [2] England, Joe Bennett was the youngest of four. In his memoir he describes a difficult relationship with his father, who died when he was 16. As a child he imagined becoming a professional cricketer. After studying at Cambridge, he taught at schools in Spain, France, England, Canada, and New Zealand. [3] [4] Bennett emigrated to New Zealand when he was 29, in 1987. [1] Before taking up freelance writing in 1998, he worked as an English teacher at Christ's College in Christchurch.
Bennett's first memoir, From There to Here (2023), is an account of his childhood and youth in England, and recounts his growing awareness that he was gay.
"[Bennett] writes about his love life. He writes about his sexuality. More so, he writes about beauty – male beauty, first felt at 14, when he sees “a youth” in purple hipsters walk down the street. "My ideal form was male not female. And I think I had always known it.” [1]
In 1994 Bennett wrote the words to the musical Tramps, a co-production between Christ's College and St Margaret's College, reviewed in The Press .
Where Underpants Come From: From Checkout to Cotton Field - Travels Through the New China (2008) traces a pair of cheap underpants from New Zealand to China. [2]
King Rich (2015) is a novel set in Christchurch after the February 2011 earthquake. [5]
In the book Fun Run and Other Oxymorons (2000), his second collection of columns, Bennett writes:
"If anything holds these articles together it is that I like people but not in herds. I distrust all beliefs, most thought and anything ending in ism. Most opinion is emotion in fancy dress."
Bennett is fond of dogs and this is reflected in the titles and cover art of many of his books.
He featured in the New Zealand comedy show Moon TV hosted by "That Guy" Leigh Hart in a segment called "Bookzone: A Show About Books".
In December 2011 he appeared in the media for refusing to evacuate his Lyttelton home as ordered by the Christchurch City Council due to fears of falling rocks if another earthquake was to occur. [6]
At the Canon Media Awards 2011, Bennett won New Zealand Columnist of the Year for the fifth time. [7]
George William Forbes was a New Zealand politician who served as the 22nd prime minister of New Zealand from 28 May 1930 to 6 December 1935.
Lyttelton is a port town on the north shore of Lyttelton Harbour / Whakaraupō, at the northwestern end of Banks Peninsula and close to Christchurch, on the eastern coast of the South Island of New Zealand.
The Bridle Path is a steep shared-use track that traverses the northern rim of the Lyttelton volcano connecting the port of Lyttelton with the city of Christchurch in the South Island of New Zealand. It is a popular walking and mountain biking route. The track ascends from the port itself to a height of 333 metres (1,093 ft) before descending again via Heathcote Valley to Christchurch. At the summit, next to the Summit Road, is a stone shelter with covered seats that is a 1940 New Zealand centennial memorial to the Pioneer Women of Canterbury. There are also seven commemorative stone seats placed along the Bridle Path; most of these were built for the 1950 Canterbury centenary celebrations.
Charlotte Jane was one of the First Four Ships in 1850 to carry emigrants from England to the new colony of Canterbury in New Zealand.
The Press is a daily newspaper published in Christchurch, New Zealand, owned by media business Stuff Ltd. First published in 1861, the newspaper is the largest circulating daily in the South Island and publishes Monday to Saturday. One community newspaper—Northern Outlook—is also published by The Press and is free.
Dan Heatley is a British musician. He played drums for a band called Shane MacGowan and The Popes.
The following lists events that happened during 1964 in New Zealand.
Steven Carl Braunias is a New Zealand author, columnist, journalist and editor. He is the author of 14 books.
Athol John "Joe" Earl is a former New Zealand rower who won two Olympic medals.
Henry Thomas Joynt Thacker was a medical doctor, New Zealand Member of Parliament and Mayor of Christchurch.
James Townsend was an English wine merchant, who in later life was a pioneer settler in New Zealand's South Island. He was also an amateur cricketer.
Charlotte Grimshaw is a New Zealand novelist, short-story writer, columnist and former lawyer. She has written both fiction and non-fiction, often drawing on her legal experience. Her short stories and longer works often have interlinked themes and characters, and feature psychological and family dramas.
Michael James Terence Morrissey is a New Zealand poet, short story writer, novelist, essayist, editor, feature article writer, book reviewer and columnist. He is the author of thirteen volumes of poetry, two collections of short stories, a memoir, two stage plays and four novels and he has edited five other books.
Edwin Blake was a 19th-century Liberal Party Member of Parliament in Canterbury, New Zealand.
Leonard Harper was a 19th-century Member of Parliament in Canterbury, New Zealand.
The Statue of Robert Falcon Scott, commonly known as the Scott Statue, is a statue in Christchurch, New Zealand commemorating British Antarctic explorer Robert Falcon Scott. The statue was unveiled in 1917 and is located at a small recreational park at the intersection of Worcester Street and Oxford Terrace in Christchurch Central City. Scott likely died on 29 March 1912 during his Terra Nova Expedition to the South Pole. His death became public knowledge on 10 February 1913, in response, locals organised a committee dedicated to Scott within one week of the news of his death. The statue was commissioned to be carved by Scott's widow, Kathleen Scott, in which she travelled to a marble quarry in Italy to carve it in March 1916. Her work was shipped to New Zealand in late 1916 and was unveiled on 9 February 1917. The statue is one of few monuments recognising the significance of early 20th-century Antarctic exploration.
Charles Seymour "Chas" Luney, was a New Zealand builder and company director. He is notable for the many important buildings that his company constructed in Christchurch, of which his favourite was Christchurch Town Hall. His professional career spanned 80 years.
Joseph Brittan was a New Zealand surgeon, newspaper editor, and provincial councillor, was one of the dominant figures in early Christchurch. Born into a middle-class family in southern England, he followed his younger brother Guise Brittan to Christchurch, where he and his wife arrived in February 1852 with four children. Joseph Brittan soon got involved in the usual activities of early settlers and gained prominence in doing so. He had bought 100 acres on 10 July 1851 and took up 50 of this to the east of Christchurch that he converted to farmland. There, he built the family residence, and the suburb of Linwood was subsequently named after Brittan's farm and homestead of Linwood House.
Thomas Jackson, was an English Anglican clergyman appointed in 1850 as Bishop Designate of the newly founded settlement of Lyttelton in New Zealand. After disagreements with the New Zealand colonists, Jackson never took up the bishopric, and instead returned to England. He was an early advocate of animal welfare.
Finlay Macdonald is a New Zealand journalist, editor, publisher and broadcaster. He is best known for editing the New Zealand Listener (1998–2003). Macdonald was appointed New Zealand Editor: Politics, Business & Arts of the online media site The Conversation in April 2020. He lives in Auckland with his partner, media executive Carol Hirschfeld. They have two children. His father was the late journalist Iain Macdonald.
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