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sir Peter Lee hello welcome to my podcast nice to be here been a long time since we've caught up it's good to see
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you looking so well and life must be going good for you thank you yeah the podcast is going um very well I launched
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it about 15 16 months ago and it's sort of gone from strength to strength I've
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been I've been badgering you to come on and I apologize for that but I wore you
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down didn't I well no you never wore me down but you I seen a a a a a message or
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something where a whole lot of people said you said who should I get on yeah and there was David T mentioned and
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several people mentioned but I got more I got more likes Mad Butcher than anyone else well
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no I better stop doing if they want to hear me I better get on it 100% you're
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you're You're such and I I wanted to get you on even before that post went up
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just because um you're such an awesome New Zealander and I feel like you don't
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necessarily get enough pra for all the stuff that you do you're so alteristic
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no I do mate I'm very humbled by the amount of people that comment to me and
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thank me for what I've done and that it can be very embarrassing at times and uh
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no and and you don't do it for acknowledgement you do it because in my case I just love sharing the love that's
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what I do and uh I done it the other day I met an American couple at the fery building at Half Moon Bay and they were
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coming to Y hickey not in the car just coming over and uh got talking and they said I said where you from in amer com
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for you I said oh you must be Mormons oh yes we're Mormons you know and uh we got
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really good and they were lovely couple and you know the nice thing about them and I said this to them the other day I
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said the good thing is you didn't try to convert me no but I mean that sincerely you know
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I mean that sincerely oh yeah they didn't try and RAM it down your throat yeah exactly uh J imagine imagine the
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surprise that they would have got when they left you and they they Googled you and they're like oh this guy's proper
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failers no she was she Googled before that happened because everywhere we went people were talking to me on the FY
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everyone hello but she Googled me and uh yeah she was but they're a lovely couple
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and that's what you do in life you try to share the love where you can yeah and
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you don't you don't do it to Big node or that sort of thing I showed two guys
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around uh if you look at my Facebook page it's a sir Mad Butcher no sir Peter
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Charles leech you'll see I showed two guys around my uh man cave today and they loved it mate what's in your manave
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is it just League memorabilia it's a little bit of the Liverpool soccer team
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bit of all black stuff you know but mainly rugby league and they were they were big rugby league fans massive rugby
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league fans yeah um the first thing I wanted to know is um uh who is s leech and who is the Mad Butcher and how are
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they different they're one or the other they're both the same what you see is
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what you get yeah you know but does it s of start as like a character or like a caricature of
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yourself in a way like an exaggerated version started there was a guy b a staff on radio Pacific and he used to
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have a sports show and he used to drink a bottle of vodka a night and one night he bagged my club mangry East that I was
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a sponsor of and I rang him up and ning him gambling with him like having bets on the games and one day I I thought
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well if I stop gaming I could you know advertise and the guy walked in he used to always do business in the worry trust
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hotel and the private but and the guy walk passing the there if and Mad Butcher and I said that will do us Tim
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said oh you can't use you know the f word but we started off Rosella meets the home of the Mad Butcher then another
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famous broadcasting man called Gordon Dryden told me you need one name so then I just went with Mad Butcher and that
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was people used to want to come out to the butcher shop and see the city is on the radio you know so okay so so yes so
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The Moldy fell that um coined the phice the Mad Butcher what what did you why did people think you were mad you just
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full full of full of energy or I don't know M I've never asked him and to be
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fren to be he's never come back to me for royalties either no but but like were you were you
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mad or was was it just like the the way you interacted with customers oh just what was M about you just what the way
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the way I was a bit of an idiot you know cuz Monty beam one of the one of the most famous um gez we're jumping all
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over the place here we we I was hoping to go in some sort of sequence but we might bounce around a bit but um your
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Monty beam he tells a story about going into your store when he was like 4 years
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old or something um and you you were you were kind of mad he like who is this guy
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yeah so and he wanted to punch me because he thought when he was four he had taken out he in he said he said uh
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he's told the story many times uh he thought I was being disrespectful to his
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mother well what did you do I I used always have the customers on you know that's why they come and I made them
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feel happy welcome you know what I mean and um he's a beautiful person Monty
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beautiful person blessed to met him to be here yeah absolutely yeah isn't it
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funny though that he was a customer and he remembers you would you wouldn't remember him from when he was four I
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wouldn't imagine but he remembers you and then um and then with your association with the team and and his um
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association with the team it's real full circle the other thing Dom you must
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remember I'm a big boxing fan me and my wife love boxing and his dad was a great
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boxer uh Monty Monty Bean senior and a great man used to come in the shop and we used to talk a bit of boxing and that
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sort of thing one of the uh Prides I have I have a photo from M Muhammad Ali signed to me personally when he was
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there here from uh to do a speech many years ago wow yeah oh that's amazing I've got a signed Muhammad Ali boxing
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glove just out there but it's um not signed to me personally no I thought it
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was pretty special but then I saw a photo of him in a room with like a thousand of these same gloves signing
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them all so um there there's um something that you've sort of um I don't know go I
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guess going viral is the term like recently your Facebook post I they bring me so much joy whenever there's a new
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post from the Mad Butcher and it's you sharing what you're eating I [ __ ]
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love it man it is so good what where did that start I just started doing it you know I got uh
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39,000 on Facebook now like I'm 79 so that's quite a good number that Facebook's uh sir Peter Charles leech if
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you want to follow me did did did it just sort of explode when you started doing the food I don't know mate yeah I
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truly don't know it just you know it just happened and uh everywhere I go people what happened for breakfast
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toight and I never post if I don't like it if you don't like the food me me and Lance
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went to a place the other day for breakfast uh Lance is my good mate on Mikey Island we went to K par Cafe and
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uh we had a great breakfast but in particularly the sausages were outstanding like Lance didn't have the
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big breakfast head the bacon an XG and I was going to give him one of the sausages but in the end I only gave him
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a little quarter of the sausage you know yeah but if I don't like it I don't post
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so I only believe in positivity not negativity I don't believe in negative there's too much negativity in the world
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we got to believe in positivity like me I'm 79 I'm grateful to be alive every
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day is a bonus you know yeah yeah you got such a good attitude I love that and I I couldn't agree more um the the the
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food post I I love it and when when you read the caption you can't help but you
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know hear your voice in your head like light light snack this morning yeah Janice Jenice gave me eight webs with
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the tint Peaches on top I had a like breakfast today actually I love that you you s like
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breakfast and most people are like that's a substantial meal you love your food eh you eat a lot well yeah and I
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also I don't know if I can say this I also [ __ ] a lot I have I have a problem I'm going to the
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doctor do you what what's the is it a like a prostate issue no no no no with
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they [ __ ] in I [ __ ] all the time well you eat all the time yeah yeah um so what does an average day look like now
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you're still obsessed with idale Farm you still love Imad Farm not as much now
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I I did for many years and funny enough a lovely a guy went to England and saw a
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mug idal farm and he brought it back to me and gave it to me which was a lovely gesture you know I didn't have the heart
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to tell him I wasn't watching idal all the time cuz you used to be obsessed like you'd go away on holiday for a
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couple of weeks and you'd record all of them on V for three months one time come
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back and miss it but I went to the set several times you know um lovely people and uh it was a good program funny
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enough I watched this episode yesterday yeah yeah just for a change so what what
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does an average day look like now oh could be anything just doing nothing could be catching up with Lance or yeah
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by the way Lance who you've referenced a few times he's um sitting in the room at
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the moment you bought him over good Lance my body G that's a joke my body G um no look it could be
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anything mate uh in the better weather we could go for a kite me and a couple of other mates on the island
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um do nothing might go to the movies there's no pattern there's no rhythm
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it's just let's see what happens and see what sort of mood Janice is in because
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you have to be aware of you know looking after her as well yeah yeah um yeah you
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mentioned kaying before you do you you and grahe Henry S grah Henry still go kak cuz Graham is very active still very
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active like uh just the other day him and his wife were in Queenstown and he's
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still doing quite a bit of speaking and that whereas I've retired from that sort
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of thing how old is he is he similar age to you a bit youer know don't know lovely lovely people yeah yeah him and
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his lovely wife R beautiful lady yeah all right yeah um okay let's go back to
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the early years so um you're born in Wellington yeah big family right one of
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seven religious family Catholics no no Protestant yeah youngest I was the youngest of
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seven they're all dead now to be fair um yeah it's a bit sad really the whole
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family are dead I'm the last of the mohigans one would say and I brought up in a good workingclass family in New
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Town by the zoo up by the zoo and uh went to New Town School South Wellington intermediate Wellington Tech you know
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just and left Wellington with a mate called Colin can't remember other name now yeah
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never went back everyone said I'd be back within a month and he wouldn't go
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back and it was vice versa yeah and and you were you were I mean everything's
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got a label these days um but you were dyslexia so I'm guessing when you were
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going through school like in the in the 1940s 1950s that they just thought you were dumb or th yeah no question yeah
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and I am dumb I don't know me of better times tables no no no no no but no I
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think but I think there's difference I'd agree with you like like in terms of
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school stuff like I used to get terrible anxiety with exams so I was [ __ ] Dum and by school standards but I think
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there I didn't know ex sense I I didn't know what to go on um I think there's
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difference between having having smarts and Common Sense which you've got in in
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Spades and I I was just lucky that I I had verbal diarrhea I talked to everybody and now you just got diarrhea
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it seems yeah exactly that's fair comment um but you know I I I and I I listen to people you know I do talk a
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lot but I also listen M and uh I've been very blessed during my journey in life
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that we we've come through but not without some pain there been pain there's no gain without pain simple as
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that pain in terms of like what just the stress of running your own business or I
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first started the business I was working three jobs you know I was cleaning boning meat and then running the little
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butcher shop during the day you know so you know never saw the kids oh I did I went home and I kiss just some good
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night they'd be in bed you know and you know that's always played on my mind but
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they reckon it it never affected them but it's certainly you know yeah oh really so you look you look back
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on that with I mean they're they're all middle-aged now right you your kids yeah
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one 50 something or something they're all thriving all doing very well for themselves you used to got regrets about
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that do you like being sort of ABS when they were younger yeah look I I missed out on some stuff like you know taking
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them to school my granddaughter who's 2 I think it is she lives in Amsterdam
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Kristen I used to take her to school and that I us to right thrill out of it and
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I always remember one day I'm in a important meeting the guy flown up from Wellington to see me and she rings and
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the reception is new always put it through to me oh Pop I want to go to Mary's place
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but it's a bit cold can you come home and take me yes daring I'll be home in
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half an hour I said the BL look I'm sorry mate something's personally come
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up in the family and I have to leave now but I'll tell you what I'll do I will
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fly for you to come back up from Wellington at my expense and I'll take you out to any restaurant you want to go
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to when he did come he picked sales restaurant he' heard about it you know and um I left and when he went there on
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reception he started to winge to the receptionist which I can understand and she just said to
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him if he was to hear what you were saying oh she said do we spend much money with your company he said well
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you're one of our big his clients M she said well if he was to hear that you
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would never do another thing with this company yeah and he went white he oh oh she said I'm not going to tell him but
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let me tell you so when we went out for lunch I mention that to him and he need PE his pants and I said I could
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understand but I said you got and I told him the story about how you know granddaughter was special to me they
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accept the that and then yeah yeah I think I think that's a a lot of people probably say the same thing I think
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that's the right of pack passage right you have your own kids and you're busy
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setting up your own um you know businesses or your own life or providing for your kids the best you can and then
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when you have grandkids you got a bit more time on the hands I think that's just the circle of life and the other
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thing is you can't turn the clock back I mean they they wouldn't have had the uh
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the perks of my hard work if I it's a trade-off isn't it yeah it is a trade-off so um dyslexia at a young age
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um you always said that entrepreneurial Spirit though right I I heard I think I heard a story about you like buying
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buying merch in town and then going to a going to sports games and selling it for
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triple the price is that it's a bit of an exaggeration I used to go and sell
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cushions at the rugby and things like that but no I wouldn't set an Enterprise
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you know yeah I just that's in that's entrepreneurial I was good at selling I
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was good at selling meat right yeah um and were you were you mad or trouble as a kid no what was young
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Peter like a shy guy right I actually got my confidence in Oakland when I come to Oakland cuz being the what the
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youngest of seven children you know I don't like to say it but you know you can be a little bit spoiled at times the
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baby of the family of course yeah and uh there used to be a nightclub in Wellington in in the bottom of Queen
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Street called the Sher Lee and I went there this night and a guy's beating the
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guy beating the [ __ ] out of a guy in the toilet and he said to me what are you looking at old deal to
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you and I said if you can mate and I thought yeah that's good and he back down a little bit but I I just got the
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confidence really I changed when I got to Orland you know it was a it gave me confidence I didn't have anyone looking
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after me I had to stand on my own two feet you know yeah cuz you you I mean you do talk a big game to people you're
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like look at these tattoos don't [ __ ] with me but but you I mean youve got the
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biggest I said that today I said see these tattoos I got those in Bost I never but to be fair when I you Bost
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that's like a like a youth youth Justice Facility or whatever isn't it yeah
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that's what they would back in the day you've never been to a Bost in your life
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no I got I got a couple of mates to have to be fair yeah yeah B you should remember that yeah yeah but um so I mean
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a lot of people refer to you as as a likable Rogue but it's like it's it's an
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act right there's nothing rogy about you at all no I'm a [ __ ] to be fear yeah
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yeah but don't tell anyone everyone knows mate see those ter and of course the Rings intimidate
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them I'm sorry I haven't got the rings on today but I'm getting a bit of memory
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loss and I actually left them at home um because the Rings are very much part of
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me one ring is what my mother and father gave me when they died you know and the
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other is a warrior a a Mad Butcher ring my daughter got made for me and then I've got a warrior ring as well if you
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play a 100 games you get the ring and they gave that to me some years ago yeah and I feel naked without them but I
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hardly wear them on why hecki cuz why hecki is my chill out Place relax you know and uh so I hardly wear them right
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so so the the rings on the jewelry it's like part of your sort of persona in a
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way oh yeah it's part of me yeah um let's talk about Janice so Janice is um
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you guys got married young like early 20s so you've been together over 50 years we married two years before we had
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children I know what you're thinking I know you were leading shotgun wedding
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leading no I know I know what you're like and I know how your mind goes no we you got me all
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wrong we were married we were married for a couple of years then we had Angie then we had Julie a couple of years
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later um yeah how did how did you guys meet how old were you when you metet you the schoolmates or what no no I was from
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well she lived in Orland okay um she was a blind date to be fear because uh I was
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going out with my land lady's sister she got a better offer got a guy with a
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convertto and so I end up taking Janice out and uh the rest of History being a great wife great wife and you know I've
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had some uh bad times with health you know I uh some you know died on an operating table
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and some other stuff did you wi was that a few years ago and she's been great
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she's stuck with me the whole way and we have up Sunday sounds a little bit you
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know but that's what marriage is about it's hard yeah yeah I mean yeah [ __ ] I'm
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I'm 50 now and you I've gone I've gone through one marriage already and it's um
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we've been married blood we've been married about 55 56 years what do you
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reckon the secret is is it communication or just being on the same tolerance it's
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tolerance you know and give and take you know yeah I mean when I first started out I would come home we had a home and
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Edge Water Drive and uh uh I'd get in the front door my slippers would be there then I'd go into the kitchen and
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my tea would be there light snack light snack and then I'd go upstairs and Kiss
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the Girls good night go to bed I mean Janice is I wouldn't be here without Janice to be very blunt you know she's
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very part very much part of what I am who I am and how we got where we are yeah does that
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um I mean does does that scare you a b i the same for her like when you're when
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you're in a I suppose this is the the trade-off like you have a long successful relationship like that you
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know someone that's by your side for the best part of your life and then one of
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you is going to die before the other it does worry you yeah I don't know what
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life would be without her to be fear and vice verser I'd imagine yeah no that's
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uh not worth thinking sorry sorry for the down Buzz i' rather not go no oh that's well congratulations U
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yeah I mean I think it there a lot of about you as a person uh but she's stuck
00:20:00
around all this time you said you've had your ups and downs any sort of um like
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separations where no no no no no nothing like that just you know like with have the odd argument and odd storm off or
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you know but nothing major you know yeah yeah when I look back at it it's been a
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great marriage and she's been an incredible woman cuz she's had to put up
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with a lot I had she what well like everywhere I go people want to talk to me yeah and I I've got verbal diarrhea
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and I talk to everyone and that can be hard for her cuz some people can be rude and not acknowledge her you know what I
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mean um but she takes it um I suppose it's just yeah it's part of the Mad
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Butcher parcel isn't it yeah yeah and I you know sometimes say well that's
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what's got us here where we are you know we've got a home in Oakland and Home in
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Wy and we we never take it for granted you know we never take it for granted yeah yeah
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um yeah so you're you're quite financially secure but you you could be a lot more financially secure like
00:21:04
you've been so alteristic Through The Years haven't you like I don't know what
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that means oh like generous charitable like um like if that was your goal to be rich you you'd be a lot
00:21:16
richer than what you are financially oh no question yeah I mean we we've never
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ever set out to be Filthy Rich we're well off we're okay but that's just
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because we worked hard and didn't waste our money you know my home on my hick is
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a nice home but it ain't some Mansion you know what I mean um that's what you
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need but we love it to be fair um and we've had a bit of luck through life you
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know a guy a guy called Mr Hill financed me into my first business you know and he was a lovely man lived in one High
00:21:50
Street remuera I go there to his house this night and they sitting down and they got all these knives and forks and
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I said to well Mr Hill what he got all these n and forks for he said oh this is this and that and I said yeah but you
00:22:02
only got one pair of hands you can only need one that's the way they ate but he
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was a beautiful man trusted me and uh had faith in me and that's how I got started oh so he like gave you the the
00:22:14
line or bought into the he had he had a block of shops and he wanted to sell them and uh he couldn't get a butcher
00:22:21
and I went out to look at it just I don't know why we had a 1950 moris Miner
00:22:26
our daughter Angela been born and uh I don't know how we come to look at the
00:22:31
shop and he was there along with the land agent and when we left he said what do you think of it I said well you'd
00:22:37
never get rich you'd have to work bloody hard to make a living CU it's not in a
00:22:41
good position he said would you be interested I said mate look at the car I drive we just moved into a new home
00:22:47
Beasley home no carpetless I said we got no money so he asked me for my phone number and I was scared to give it to
00:22:54
him because normally the cops were asking for that and um I gave it to him and he rang me some months
00:23:01
later and I can't remember the exact details but he I remember he called me to a meeting and I said why would you
00:23:09
want to do this to me he said well I sent my wife down to buy meat off you and she said you're a beautiful you're a
00:23:15
lovely man and you carried the meat out the I said to him without hesitation this is my
00:23:21
humor I said if she must be a lot younger than you and he didn't even he didn't even smile um but she he she
00:23:32
he before I left he asked me where I worked on that and he made that must have made a note of it and uh he had
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sent his wife down to buy meat they lived in one High Street room you Era and she'd come down and buy meat and I'd
00:23:43
carried out you know and and she said he was very pleasant you know knew his job
00:23:48
and uh and that's why he decided to uh make an offer to me I didn't even know
00:23:54
what Finance was I had no idea yeah so you Yeah you mentioned before you had um more than one job so you were you were a
00:24:01
butcher you were cleaning as well did you say I was cleaning South o Motors at one stage early in the morning and how
00:24:07
we then like late teens early 20s oh would never clean that and then um I was uh bony meat for a guy called Bill Tini
00:24:17
and pamu at night here um did did you just did you need the cleaning job as to supplement your income yeah right to
00:24:26
yeah [ __ ] and then what happened he the agreement was that after a year or two
00:24:31
years I could walk away and he he he brought me a new van everything he gave me he gave me a blank checks virtually
00:24:37
and said get what you need to get the shop going I said well I'll need a vehicle cuz I can't come from packar at
00:24:43
I'm angry uh in my old minor and um the deal was he would take it over and I'd give him I'd give
00:24:54
him everything back you know and we had a meeting and I said it's not going too good Mr he said that's a good
00:25:03
Peter give me the keys you I can't you've tried really hard I said well I
00:25:07
don't want to leave you in the Lurch he said to me another lesson in life he
00:25:12
said you pay me when I'm going to cut the interest and you pay me when you want to pay when you can afford it
00:25:19
straight away the Noose got loosen around my leg Yeah so I could think better yeah and so yeah we ended up yeah
00:25:26
so there was so there was your first store yeah and then how how did you expand how did you how did you grow what
00:25:32
happened was he sold the building and then the new owner put the rent up and I had I I had no option I could not go
00:25:38
back losing money again you know and uh a lady said to me one day I was telling her about it and she said why didn't you
00:25:47
get the butcher shop around the corner which was 268 messy Road that's where
00:25:51
the real home of the Mad Butcher started and uh it I remember my wife's cousin
00:25:57
worked for hes and he he's a very much a family man very much a family man and he
00:26:04
said to me we went to an engagement party or something on a Friday night and he said to me Peter you need to get out
00:26:10
sell that shop get out of it he said because gooes had come in and gooes was the big Supermarket from England Elbert
00:26:18
goo and he said you know we our job is to send you under and I thought about it I said to Janice we started with nothing
00:26:25
so we even if we go go you know to close we have to close the shop we still got the gear to sell so you know and uh it
00:26:33
turned out I was smart I I I don't know if I brought the property then but I did eventually buy
00:26:41
it and um the uh we put big signs on the side of the thing you know so when they
00:26:47
were going to goo base and I had a car park they would stop and get the cheap meat and so we that was the journey
00:26:53
that's when the real journey started and uh yeah yeah yeah how many how many
00:26:59
stores did you end up with I think we ended up with 40 stores [ __ ] that's a
00:27:03
lot oh yeah over how many how many years do you you try and do like one a year a
00:27:07
couple of years just that was just the way the ball bounced yeah and to be fair I went I took a partnering called
00:27:14
Rod slider and we were at partnership for a few years but he was never a partner of the Mad Butcher we set up a
00:27:21
company called Rod pit Enterprise and we opened three stores and um we then dissolved that agreement you know um but
00:27:29
we never had an argument and to this day we're still friends and great guy and uh
00:27:35
yeah look it's just been an incredible journey mate you know yeah but financially when did when did it start
00:27:41
paying off like when when you've well when you got 40 stores you must be doing
00:27:45
very well at that point but I didn't know them they were franchise I think most of them and we know okay so you're
00:27:50
just getting like a little from each store and the other thing is never be scared to seek
00:27:56
advice in those days the king of franchis was McDonald's yeah so I ran McDonald's to see if I could see the big
00:28:03
boss lady said no you know what he want for I thought I want to get some advice on franchise and said I he's very busy
00:28:08
w't see him for a few weeks you know and then she said you're not the Mad Butcher
00:28:12
are you I I seen him the next day his name was El dun he virtually said to me but a nicer language he said to me your
00:28:20
franchise agreement has to be so tight they can't piss fart or pee without your
00:28:25
permission and that's and that was a saving graceful because my franchise agreement was that tight yeah because
00:28:32
without my name yeah yeah the name and the brand is everything yeah so recognizable and has
00:28:40
your voice always been I mean I've I've known you I guess 25 years um and you your voice has
00:28:47
always been like that I'm trying to imagine what your voice was like as a young man I wouldn't have a clue mate
00:28:52
come you all make the rum Stak 77.99 a kilo you can't beat them mad wiches meat
00:28:58
oh they love it when I say that people you know people still come up say go and give it to us give us it to you know um
00:29:05
it's been a wonderful Journey you know met so many wonderful people and uh made
00:29:10
so many friends it's it's been a blessing to be fear and and your kids they all worked at the store at some
00:29:17
point Didn't They y yeah didn't you fire them fire them over and over again no I
00:29:21
had to let it go cuz things were a bit tough she was she wasn't happy um no but
00:29:27
they both worked at times uh they both the the family played a big part you know as the journey went through um yeah
00:29:37
and what about League where did you mangry East mang East Haws so you you you you were busy running your business
00:29:45
and uh raising a young family and um someone came in and asked for sponsorship and that was your
00:29:50
introduction to Le that's right Colin Christian who was the chairman of the club come in and said to me would you
00:29:55
consider sponsoring the club I said well what what sponsorship I didn't know he
00:29:59
said oh well you know you you could give us a meat pack or give us you know a bit
00:30:03
of cash I can't give you cash I got no bloody cash so we end up giving them a
00:30:06
few meat packs and went on for a while he said why don't you come down for a
00:30:10
beer so I went down there mate my sort of people drinking lion red predominantly marry Polynesians you know
00:30:17
my sort of people I got on well with and um next thing I'm sponsoring the club
00:30:22
and as time got on the sponsorship got bigger and uh terms like a financial contribution or
00:30:29
what yeah yeah I I remember one year I I I I took out an insurance policy and if
00:30:36
they won the premiership they would have got 10 grand wow but they didn't win you
00:30:40
know which was sad because I paid the insurance policy um but I'll tell you a
00:30:45
lovely story there's a player called Leslie vne Cola made his name in England
00:30:51
particularly with rugby lovely guy he went to a a jubilee at the mangri leag club and there was on a Mad Butcher
00:30:58
Jersey on display and he got up and said I I can't believe there's not a Mad
00:31:02
Butcher Jersey he said this man saved the club why is there not a jersey what happened that the club got into major
00:31:09
debt and I got them out of debt personally got them out of debt by bringing Wally Lewis to speak and Melman
00:31:15
ining and a couple of other things and of course but what happens is new people come and they don't know you they don't
00:31:21
know the history you know that's life you know and you move on or you getting
00:31:25
getting you a boss that wants to make some changes or stamp your own mark on it yeah exactly mate
00:31:30
yeah but no it's been a great journey and that's how the love the rugby league
00:31:34
coming when you consider I managed to kiwis in 2005 and we beat Australia 240 in the final of the tri Nations 2006 we
00:31:44
just got pipped at the post yeah two books come out on that as well yeah uh because I get the feeling with you it's
00:31:51
um it's less about the sport itself and just more about the people and the the
00:31:55
commun the sense of community that that you get I've been to Ericson a couple of
00:31:59
times and I've seen you and you're running around and people are calling
00:32:02
you and you're letting people in you're going to the gate you're not even
00:32:04
watching the games no no um this is going to shock you and whoever's watching I actually know nothing about
00:32:11
rug I have a great passion for the game and and the people and the people but I don't know the rules I I don't know the
00:32:19
rules you know and I couldn't care less it's just my re it's my relaxation you
00:32:25
see when you when you when you're build in a business and you're 24/7 worried about
00:32:31
how you going to pay the bills and that you need something to relax and my relaxation which go and watching the
00:32:37
Hawks play I'd go to Carlo Park and watch them and I've never bothered to
00:32:41
learn the rules some said to me just recently why don't you earn the rules buter I said well I don't want them I
00:32:47
don't need to iose I suppose yeah you probably like my I'm probably the same
00:32:51
as you like I know what I know what's happening I know when they score a try
00:32:53
and I you know you don't know you don't need to know I said to this I said to this person I
00:33:00
don't need to mate I was manager of the kiwis that helped to turn the tide of
00:33:04
New Zealand rugby league we beat Australia 24- nil in the final in the UK I said the next year we just got pipped
00:33:12
at the post I was the manager and I went through a couple of things that I've
00:33:15
been involved in you know in rugby league and beyond my wild I never thought I'd be in those positions you
00:33:21
know yeah how how did that happen you sort of went from like mascot to manager really didn't you well then Anderson
00:33:28
when we traveled I would fill in as manager sometimes and he was impressed so he got me the job as the kiwi's
00:33:36
manager and then the bucker turned around and takes off to bloody England I think was some Helens he went to so
00:33:42
there there was there was a proper job like man what what did you have to do as manager of the team ah it it wasn't a
00:33:47
PID job you know it was uh you organize you know travel and you know you make sure the guys are on the bus some time
00:33:54
and you get them you teach them disciplines like you know I said if you're late I'll leave you behind and uh
00:34:02
we we were in England and I left the doctor behind cuz he wasn't down on the
00:34:06
bus one time and he wasn't happy and someone said to me on the bus oh the doctor's not on I
00:34:12
said I know that but I said no no what did I tell you then I I I you know raised the voice
00:34:20
what did I tell you all you buggers I said if you're not down on time you get
00:34:24
left behind the doctor's no bloody except and he can walk to the bloody Stadium he wasn't very happy the doctor
00:34:30
but I st you know stuck had your R and um uh you you like that with the players as well you You' you know pull them
00:34:38
aside and have a word if you had to yep no no you had to you had to be the boss it's not easy and that they they
00:34:43
respected you and took you seriously not like you know whatever you I asked Adam
00:34:47
BL the other day who was the best manager he had he said you butch by far and he didn't have to say that uh look I
00:34:54
I Ruled with the f [Music] that's rude leaving your phone on when we having a chat I know that is so rude
00:35:02
hey um hey Ash I'm here with the Mad Butcher we're just doing a podcast hello hi I'm just I'm just here
00:35:08
with the m butcher doing a podcast oh hang on sh turn my phone off sorry yeah oh I
00:35:21
didn't answer I'm going to be in trouble now um oh yes um any um well let me let
00:35:26
me tell you story I have a very good friend on miky island called lley been my friend for over 50 odd
00:35:34
years when we were back in New Zealand I brought him into the camp as my assistant and made one of the loveliest
00:35:43
things in his life it just made him feel so special you see it's very special to
00:35:49
be involved in the team and you know yeah and I loved every minute of it yeah I mean there were hard times you had to
00:35:56
be hard but I was also very lucky I had a guy called Pat karthy who was the uh Financial sort of guy after the gear and
00:36:04
he was very good we got on well and it's all about a combination blue em panon
00:36:08
was the coach you know but Daniel got me the job and might then took off to St Helens I think but a great guy and I've
00:36:17
uh I went over to the fundraiser because as you know Daniel Anderson's you know
00:36:23
paraplegic now yeah from here down he's what happened to him he he got hit yeah
00:36:28
right right but you know up here sharp as a tech sharp as a tech great guy and an actual fact we've got a we we've got
00:36:37
a game or we've had a game uh and it's Daniel Anderson week that's coming up in
00:36:42
about a week's time yeah oh how good I I think we'll sort the stay and we're
00:36:46
going to give part of the gate to him that's nice yeah um yeah on on your Facebook like you're still you catch up
00:36:54
with a lot of um former players like you a lot of them are still friends for life
00:36:59
yeah who who who are your your best friends that are former players you seem to hang out with Stacy Jones a lot well
00:37:04
Stacy's close yeah he's uh his birthday's May the 7th mine's May the
00:37:08
eth and we have formed a quite a good Bond when I went over to the Daniel Anderson uh fundraiser and um I went to
00:37:17
the game the next day I pushed the boat out pretty bad bad and he rang me the next week on the Wednesday and said how
00:37:23
are you I said I'm still Eed mate you know yeah no but just look to be fa I love
00:37:29
the more Motu Tony they're all special to me um yeah that's cool um there
00:37:38
there's an episode that you did of um this is your life I watched that a couple of days ago in preparation for
00:37:42
this um it's it's funny seeing the the the Kiwi players in the front row
00:37:46
there's Simon mening there um young Stacy Jones young Monty be very young manui um so you've been a part of these
00:37:53
guys lives since they were like teenagers that was very humbling they the producer or whoever
00:38:02
rung the Kiwi camp and said we'd like a couple of Warriors to come along so the
00:38:08
the coach or manager said to the got the team they have team meeting said you know the Butch has got this as your life
00:38:14
on and in this country it's a big thing and they like two people and they they
00:38:19
just sit up the whole team goes or no one goes whole team come which was a and and they were playing the next day or
00:38:27
something I can't remember the exact details oh so they were in Camp so oh they were in Camp a big honor a big
00:38:33
honor absolutely yeah so a lot of people watching watching this or listening to this podcast won't even remember this is
00:38:39
your life but it's an iconic TV show um Bob Parker hosted in New Zealand back in
00:38:43
the day the episode that you did so Paul Holmes who's no longer with us he he was
00:38:46
hosting it so you're um so so you're at you're at you're at the theater watching
00:38:51
some show and he just pops up pops up with a with a book do do are you are you did you have any inkling at what's going
00:38:58
on what happened I J must have been in on it though no I thought there was something going on because they wanted
00:39:02
me to go and see the show at the Civic Theater and they wanted to do a family thing and I thought this is not you know
00:39:09
I I felt there was something not right so at half time we standing Paul Holmes coming through and you know Paul Holmes
00:39:16
bit like me talk hello how are you hello how are talk to everyone has anyone seen
00:39:19
the mad and there I was come over and he he said you know we're going back to the
00:39:24
studio do do this is your life it was uh it was quite a thing and people can actually Google that and watch it yeah
00:39:30
it's on you that's how I watched it it's on YouTube and uh yeah it was pretty
00:39:34
special and they had my teacher there called Mrs Maine yeah and to be to be fair I don't want to be don't want to be
00:39:40
rude but um yeah she looked younger than you yeah but anyhow Paul left the book down and I cheated and I looked who was
00:39:49
coming up so this voice comes up and I jumped out of the chair that's Mrs M my
00:39:53
old teacher and what we done we took her out for a drink after afterwards and Paul come to the pub with us and he got
00:39:59
pissed and they asked me to get rid of him cuz the the management cuz he was over the you know really oh homesi was a
00:40:05
bit obnoxious oh no no no no he was just pissed you know they didn't want that
00:40:09
under anyhow we got rid of him and we flew down to Wellington and took Mrs M and husband out for
00:40:17
dinner sometime later as a thank you cuz she gave me a little bit of Hope the last year at school yeah you know year
00:40:23
cuz when you in my day when you were dumb like I was you got the worst teachers you got the worst oh
00:40:31
cuz you're in the dumb the dumb class we had a teacher at College before Mrs
00:40:36
Maine she should never have been teaching you know she'd break down a cry over nothing you know it was a joke the
00:40:44
head Master come in one day roaring you know what have you done you know what have you done and have done anything she
00:40:49
just she just bloody you know she was H just brutal yeah um but this is your life thing one of the one of the guests
00:40:57
on that was um John K this is when he was prime minister so you had the sitting prime minister of the country um
00:41:03
on this TV show to like pay honor to you it's massive yeah you have to you have
00:41:07
to understand that me and Sir John become friends through the Christ earthquake mhm uh I seen some of the
00:41:15
good stuff he done down there and uh I'd always s I'd always sort of been a labor
00:41:20
candidate and uh when the election come up I come out and it was for me to come out cuz you know my roots are working
00:41:30
class and uh support him and he to this day he says the butcher got me reelected
00:41:36
because he reckons I swung a lot of Labor people right though he he his words were something like they would
00:41:42
think if it's good enough for the butcher it's good enough for us you know
00:41:46
and uh but he was a good man he without without that he was the best prime minister we had although you you called
00:41:51
them thick on TV well you call everyone thick though don't you like my my mouth opens before my brain
00:42:00
and you got to remember I've only got a small brain mate small brain um and Wally Lewis he flew over for this is
00:42:07
your life as well he's been in the at the time we're recording this um it's
00:42:10
just come out in the past week that he's got um dementia I think yeah but you're
00:42:14
still in touch did you message him when you hear that news I regularly regularly
00:42:19
you know um and I actually said to him the other day look willly Wally on losing memory I've got some issues you
00:42:29
know I said to them I trip over all the time now and I tripped over today when we're coming to do this podcast and I
00:42:35
hit my head really hard and my head bounced off the concrete you know um and I've got a bit of memory loss as well
00:42:42
you know so that's you know part of getting old but he's not old but I said
00:42:45
just got to move on you know um but now he's been a great friend you know but
00:42:50
I'm lucky I met some wonderful people in rugby league you know from fans there's
00:42:55
two woman in England I met uh I spoke to her on Facebook early this morning um and uh she's been out
00:43:04
met my family you know we've stayed in touch all these years yeah and that would
00:43:09
be ah before I was manager of the kiwis I met them I met them in the skyra hotel
00:43:17
in leads and they just added a rugby league people Dawn and I C the another one there yeah in here God you give you
00:43:27
give so much of your time does does anyone um like sort of you know take advantage of
00:43:33
you have you you got quite good sense of that oh and I can pick that up yeah yeah
00:43:38
yeah You' being an easy target for a lot of people I reckon just you're easy
00:43:42
target but they find out you know I've had a few people try to you know hook on
00:43:46
my coattail for their own benefit you know but no yeah so you're a good judge
00:43:51
of character you have to I always tell people when I first open the shop people used to pay by check all right oh that's
00:43:58
right they bouncing Che not everybody but there were a lot and because I didn't have a lot of money I had to make
00:44:06
a I had to make a decision is this person good for the money and I had to look them up and down and make a
00:44:14
decision I got it right most times you know and so that's made me a good judge
00:44:19
of character Mar dick used to often use me as a ref reference what do you think of this person M dick for those people
00:44:26
famous radio broadcaster yeah great Sports broad famous than youw Fe oh oh he didn't like that he didn't like
00:44:34
that oh that that was a knife to the Bone that's it I'm done de is more famous than
00:44:44
me um no it's got to be uh it's got to be hard though because as you said
00:44:49
before like you're all about positivity and no no negativity so when when you're
00:44:53
wired that way and you do you want to see the good in people people yeah so and there's some Beautiful People Mate I
00:44:59
I've met some wonderful people like I told you the guy bringing the mug back
00:45:03
from England the um but I I've had some wonderful things happen to me you know re what you
00:45:11
saw though yeah and when I when I died on the operating table somehow it got into the public Arena and
00:45:21
the cards we got the cards we got unbelievable and some of the letters when I flew people up from Christ Church
00:45:30
for the uh I'd fly them up to a Warrior game and fly them home afterwards and
00:45:35
I've still got some of the letters you know pretty special moments to be fair
00:45:42
oh 100% yeah yeah cuz so you mentioned dying on the operating table um yeah you sh you're lucky to be here and your late
00:45:49
70s there's been a a hell of a lot of Health scares haven't there so when was
00:45:53
the what was the operating table thing that you're talking about I was getting
00:45:55
valves done or something oh you had like stance put in your heart or something like there's been bladder cancer um
00:46:02
diabetes arthritis yep yeah how are you now you right was good as gold I could take you out in the first
00:46:10
round yeah yeah but you can't you can't Tom you can't dwell on the past you got to
00:46:18
look to the Future yeah and you've just got to enjoy every day I used to be a graved digger and
00:46:26
when I used to do public speaking I used to ask people what would you Lear at being a grave digger you know and I
00:46:31
would tell them my first grave I dug was a a six-year old boy you know no one ever got it right I would write the
00:46:38
answer in my pocket and I'd hold a $100 note up and say anyone gets right you
00:46:42
get this or how to dig holes all this you learn the value of life because none of us know when we're going to click out
00:46:51
could be today it could be you look at the kids that die at 8 or 9 so you got to enjoy
00:46:58
every day while you can you know yeah I feel like you do as well don't you I do
00:47:03
my best yeah I don't have a lot of regrets you know there are what regrets do you have I can't tell you they're
00:47:12
secret um now I I I think I do enjoy you know I try to enjoy life as much you know yeah I I I think um I mean I mean
00:47:22
if you get to your late '70s and you've got no regrets then it's like haven't
00:47:25
lived a very rich or fulfilling life have you I think you need some regrets oh yeah but you you you mentioned one
00:47:31
before like the regret of I suppose working so hard that you missed um spending time with your kids yeah I'm
00:47:37
curious to know what these secret regrets are um you got another family somewhere secret family how dare you how
00:47:45
dare you speak to a knight of the realm like that by God terrible um yeah um so how do you
00:47:54
how do you feel about aging I I I I get the sense that you're frustrated about
00:47:58
losing your memory and you're losing your balance and stuff yeah well if you
00:48:02
had to seen me today you'd understand why because mate mate I hit my head on
00:48:06
the concrete and I bounced up my mate that was with me he he he panic and people rushed to me we had three people
00:48:15
rush to me cuz they seen it yeah and boy they were concerned um what was the question now oh yeah you seem frustrated
00:48:25
by some of the some of the things that are you're losing with age yeah you do
00:48:29
but at the same token you turn it into positivity yeah you're 79 you're still
00:48:34
alive you know and you're still reasonably you know I mean the Big Mate you're Shar up as a tech yeah the the
00:48:42
biggest fear I think you have when you're getting old and you're losing a
00:48:46
bit of memory is that dementia coming on you know and I say this respectfully when you think some people
00:48:54
have got dementia and they don't know what what day of the week is they don't
00:48:57
know if a bus is running them over you know well I don't want to be like that I
00:49:01
want to be given an injection and put to sleep because I don't want other people
00:49:06
having waste their time because it is a waste of time and I say that respectfully I say that respectfully but
00:49:13
you know you don't know you don't know if you're pooing or peeing or whatever
00:49:16
you know and yeah yeah also you wouldn't you wouldn't necessarily want to lose
00:49:20
the less um the the essence of who you are as a person you know you know what I mean like you wouldn't want um
00:49:26
Stacy Jones to come and visit you and go oh it's not it's not butch anymore no no
00:49:31
yeah uh the worst thing is you you wouldn't know anything and that that's a terrible
00:49:37
thing you know and I I I feel sorry for anyone that's having and we've got a
00:49:42
friend now that's got it and uh his wife's thinking of bringing him home
00:49:48
and she's wasting their time are you getting a are you getting a bit Misty eyed a little bit yeah are you quite an
00:49:55
emotional guy these days I think so yeah you always always been that way or is that like something that's Creed up on
00:50:02
age it's a bit more with old age I think yeah yeah I've sort of found like that I
00:50:06
I I during my 20s or 30s I I think maybe I cried at my n's funeral and maybe with
00:50:11
one failed round of IVF and that was probably it now now I this a story they generally um for me it's mainly mainly
00:50:19
tears of gratitude these days you're you're in PR you're in the prime of life
00:50:22
you should be enjoying life while you can cuz you don't what's around the
00:50:26
corner yeah and I do get a bit emotional now um just by aging you know that's
00:50:33
good yeah P of Aging yeah and you know that's the negative but the positive is
00:50:38
how you still there to get back nearly slept you're there yeah this is a podcast you can you can swear all you
00:50:44
want no I've got to try to cut down cutting back I us restricting yourself to eight F bombs a day when I
00:50:52
used to do public speaking for the celebrity speakers they would tell the people you speak he he will say the f
00:50:58
word eight or nine times one of one of the great stories of that a lady contacted them for me to do a spection
00:51:06
in Bago and I had a I have a affiliation cuz I used to MC a fishing company down
00:51:12
there called the BL fishing comp the starby craft fishing competition I Haven seen it for a few years
00:51:19
anyhow they said I do swear oh no we the bus doesn't want any swearing they said
00:51:25
no that's that's the deal can we approach him directly but still pay you
00:51:30
the fee okay so the lady Rings me and I said I am what I am and and I can't do
00:51:36
that I said but look I tell you what get Eric Rush he's an outstanding speaker
00:51:40
doesn't swear and I gave her a couple of other names her very good speakers she come back a couple of weeks
00:51:48
later boss wants you m I said well to be fair my wife's not keen on coming down
00:51:55
so they ended up they paid me twice the fee which was $88,000 wow cuz it was $4,000 only yeah to get me down there
00:52:03
they flew Jenis down as well give us an extra night accommodation down there and
00:52:09
when I was doing the speech a guy walked in the just as we starting we started I
00:52:15
said excuse me mate excuse me punctuality key the success now come and sit down here I want to sit up there I
00:52:22
said I'm running the show [ __ ] sit down here and it was the boss Jesus anyhow afterwards I had a coat with him
00:52:29
cuz he didn't drink and uh he said know that was perfect he said that's just one
00:52:34
of the points I was trying to get through and he said uh you didn't offend me swearing you had a NE about you but
00:52:42
the nice thing about it I got them to write the check for Ron McDonald house but they just say this is from the Mad
00:52:48
Butcher you know and um the next day they sent me a gift around for me and Janice and I said to the lady no you
00:52:55
don't need to do that you paid me no the boss wanted the boss loved it so much he
00:52:59
wanted to give you something else here oh it's nice you meet nice people yeah
00:53:02
you um you did that a lot when you did your public speaking you get you'd get a
00:53:05
fee and you'd give the fee to charity yeah yeah so you know I never kept a record
00:53:10
of how much I gave away [ __ ] you're you're you must have been your accountant's nightmare I don't know if
00:53:16
the accountant knew about it after the time yeah um yeah I don't know to be fair but you know I never kept a record
00:53:24
but should what what do you reckon 5 mil oh no I wouldn't have a clue no no no no
00:53:28
no I wouldn't have a clue no and I'm not going to put a figure on it um because
00:53:33
that that's sort of the reason you got kned really isn't it it was for services
00:53:36
to charity and business but well no anyone can get KN it yeah all right what happens is someone's got to
00:53:46
nominate you and then they have to follow it with some letters of uh like recommendation or whatever yeah
00:53:54
and one of of the guys that was instrumental in it was a GU called Bob Houston from the pon Rugby
00:54:02
Club he approached me once for some sponsorship and I helped him out not a big deal but he said to someone one day how
00:54:13
come this guy's not kned you know he does like I sponsored the pon Rugby Club
00:54:17
in that and uh all you need is people to nominate you and to to and anyone can be
00:54:23
kned but I mean when they when they kned me they broke the the mold because there's not many
00:54:30
kns around the world that a character like me swears a lot you know it's a bit
00:54:38
of a lar um yeah but it was it was through the the sharing of the love out there you know what I mean oh yeah like
00:54:47
yeah I mean yeah business aside like there there's a lot of people that set up businesses and do well in business a
00:54:51
lot of people that have done terribly in business a lot of lot of people that have done way better than what you had
00:54:56
but it's plenty of people yeah the other stuff that you you do though and um I
00:55:02
genuinely don't think the business had anything to do with it I believe it was
00:55:06
what I do in the community see I have a saying the greatest gift you can give anyone is your time and I stand by that
00:55:12
you can't buy time you know when the good maker comes and says you're coming
00:55:16
to heaven or the Devil comes and say you're coming downstairs you can't say
00:55:19
I'll give you $2 million to leave me go you can't do that you know it's that's
00:55:24
life mate you know and you just move on do do you do you believe in in afterlife
00:55:29
do you think there's an no no no no so when you're gone you're gone yeah yeah
00:55:34
yeah yeah I want a big Memorial no I don't I have a joke with my family like
00:55:39
a statue statue at um go media Stadium yeah um we should have one there for Stacy Jones to be fair yeah um but no it
00:55:51
it it it people say to me you know oh you're lucky you got anointed what do you get what do you get you know what
00:55:59
you get what do you think you get get anointed like a little middle or something no you get respect right you
00:56:06
get respect a lot more respect oh do you I mean I I'm I'm not the night here so I
00:56:12
don't want to be arguing with you but I feel like um I don't know I don't know
00:56:16
if I agree with that well I don't you're not in the position to because you've
00:56:19
never been no no but like my my respect for you had my opinion of you my respect
00:56:26
for you hasn't changed since you no but a lot of people that they take you seriously they
00:56:31
they they noticed you know um yeah well that's my opinion you know uh and you
00:56:39
got to remember they don't like people like me and I'm not being humble when I
00:56:43
say that it's a fact of life I'm Different mate swear like a trooper and
00:56:48
carry on Mich laran at times yeah you know um but it was through the uh the little things I do giving people time I
00:56:58
remember I I ranked someone who was sick they asked a friend to ask me if I could bring them and
00:57:05
I you know done it and the friend rang me back the next week unbelievable she's smiling she's happy
00:57:16
she's like she's won the lotto and I always make a point of getting back to people a guy a guy
00:57:22
approached me the other day to send a message to A kids football team and I never done it cuz my memory and you know
00:57:28
I'd have been scrolling through my phone this morning trying to find that message
00:57:31
and I can't find it and it's worrying me you know oh you need to be you need to
00:57:36
be kinder to yourself no no but there's a discipline it's a discipline you have
00:57:40
disciplines and I I pride myself in getting back and he's he's entitled to
00:57:45
that I did bring him back but you know yeah I've got to do what he want me to
00:57:50
do and I'll sit down later today and see if I can find it yeah oh good on you
00:57:55
good on you and um yeah I picked you up from the fury so you live on you live on
00:57:59
how long have you lived on W hickey don't live there oh you don't I'm there
00:58:03
80% of the time and we have a home in Buck's Beach as well yes but I love it I
00:58:09
call why hickey Paradise yeah oh it really is it's a beautiful place had homes here for 50 years yeah yeah um I I
00:58:17
was on holiday a number of years ago this was in in January and I I I me me me and JJ we were married at the time we
00:58:23
were in Cuba so we there's Wi-Fi or anything and then we I went to Cuba as well you're not the only person that
00:58:28
been to Cuba I went to Cuba with Phil gford and Fidel Castro was just getting a bit crook Helen Clark was the Prime
00:58:35
Minister and I knew a lot of the labor ministers and I tried to get an audience with some federal Castro and uh the
00:58:42
reason being my dad used to get the people's voice paper but he wasn't a
00:58:47
Como but he you know he used to breed the paper because he was a great Union man and so uh I couldn't get it but it
00:58:54
was a great trip me and Phil had a great time I didn't learn you know what I
00:58:57
learned out of that trip how much you learn reading Phil knew everything about the place I said know all this film he
00:59:03
said I read about it yeah like we stayed in the the pont's old home right on the
00:59:08
water and it was oh magnificent and pH read it you know and that's why we stayed there yeah I I loved Cuba so much
00:59:16
that that wasn't a flex though saying I've been to Cuba the point was um you a
00:59:20
big noting mate I'm not a SE what what can I bring up I've been to Cuba [ __ ] he's been to
00:59:28
Cuba as well um no no no the point I was making is we were um out of out of out of touch with what's happening on home
00:59:35
uh what's happening back at home and then as soon as I got back to the States
00:59:38
and was on Wi-Fi there was um you were blowing up with a there was like a a racism incident on wcky island I I felt
00:59:45
compelled to like message you cuz I um that that made me so sad when was that like 2017 2018 you made a joke to
00:59:53
someone yeah so you make a joke there was a group of girls ladies and they'd been drinking and they wanted
01:00:03
to talk to me they were like this to me so I went over and talked to them and I said just by the way we've got a
01:00:09
sergeant on the island and he's really hot on Dr Driving she said I'm tongue
01:00:14
and Defender and I can do what I like and I said yes and it's a white man Island as well and the aswell got taken
01:00:23
out and she went straight home and posted you know she was posted thing on there and there's no question I got
01:00:29
hammered no question yeah I felt I felt really bad for you because I can say this there were some very racist
01:00:34
comments made to me as well okay but out of every negative there's a positive
01:00:40
tamama come out and supported me now if anyone could have bagged me with credibility was Tam ETI he's a
01:00:48
pro mate you know but he come out and supported me yeah so I rang him a few weeks to find out why and I won't go
01:00:54
with the detail tell but the what us he did and then there was another guy on social media an island guy from uh uh
01:01:01
mangry and um he said so you think he's a racist well I'm a Samoan he said and I rang
01:01:10
him I rang the Mad Butcher stopped to speak to him and he said it goes like this good afternoon M butcher speaking
01:01:20
uh I want to speak to the real man butcher you got the real man butcher no no I want to speak to the Real Mad
01:01:25
Butcher you got the [ __ ] real Mad Butcher and he said I told him that my daughter's sick and I needed to
01:01:31
fundraise and I didn't know how to do it and uh he said to me you better come
01:01:35
down straight away and he said uh you'll be too busy to see me and he said to me in a Gruff voice he said
01:01:44
listen mate if I'm too busy to help someone with a sick child I'm not worth
01:01:50
knowing he came down and my my office was a 10 shed in the back backyard at the shop at Messi Road and uh he come in
01:01:58
and we had a talk and I told him how to do it and I said I'm going to give you
01:02:02
some meat vouches and you'll turn them into how I told them how to turn them in
01:02:08
and I gave them a few tips and he said where are all the other Polynesians that have he's helped and I know there's
01:02:16
plenty where are you the tide come out the tide come out yeah what's when when
01:02:22
something like that happens she had to take that com down yeah were you um yeah I me I mean that was mean it feels like
01:02:29
it was ban like she was making banter about being a mold in the PS that come with that and then you and then um yeah
01:02:34
did Susan devoy piss you off like she was the race relation counselor at the time and she first of all came out and
01:02:38
said oh a mad Butch is the least racist person I know and then she no no no no no Susan the boy is a good friend yeah
01:02:47
but she was told by her superiors that that was inappropriate for her to do that but she had already done it so it
01:02:54
was okay yeah no I won't have a bad word s but I I I mean I I was frustrated for
01:03:00
you in that time so I felt um I know I know you're big enough and ugly enough
01:03:04
to look after yourself but I thought I got I got a message to this guy because m i I found it heartbreaking and because
01:03:09
you you have done so much for um moldy and Pacific communities my family and me went through some bad times yeah did you
01:03:16
no question oh yeah very that's rough there's an outpouring of support like I
01:03:20
know Monte and a bunch of the Warriors yeah let me let me say this there's two
01:03:25
sides to racism the European then the Mary side and I got that Mary side big time you know but it's dead and buried
01:03:34
she had to take her thing down because she got so much hate M you know and um yeah it's over and done with we move on
01:03:44
yeah yeah I mean it was horrible list how was your mental health in that time so you not good to be faar
01:03:52
really some will be watching this someone just be listening he's currently waving his uh one inz voone flag
01:03:58
Warriors flag around yeah yeah is that one of the toughest things you've you've
01:04:03
you've been through oh yeah no question it it really tested our family I never forget on the night my
01:04:12
wife would be the most pled woman to anyone yeah she wanted to fight the lady not her the mother
01:04:20
and they were from a bad family and my wife would have got killed you know but that's that's how bad it was yeah but
01:04:29
you know I have to choose my words carefully now you know yeah were you um you know you're you're such a you're
01:04:36
such a nice man and you're so trusting of people something like that happens where
01:04:42
you know someone takes to social media and you know sort of misrepresents you really I mean yeah it's tough it's tough
01:04:48
when you're a trusting person oh that was very hard I mean the the fact is she cut out as well and the media cut
01:04:59
that out as well and there's a few stories but that I won't go into but I
01:05:04
know how the herald tried to bury me on that someone there didn't like me you
01:05:09
know so I don't buy the herald very often now yeah um yeah in your in your book
01:05:17
I've been flicking through your book how long ago did that come out by the way
01:05:20
I've still got on my for 15 years don't know what a ride mate yeah you're good mate number one seller
01:05:26
around the world no he wrote it you see the thing about my book Phil gford knew me he's one of
01:05:33
my best friends see the guy Lance I talk about he's one of my best friends sitting here
01:05:39
now good Lance Phil's a different guy we don't see each other a lot but we're there if we need each other and we
01:05:46
see we seeare secrets you know yeah and he wrote it so he kept he knew me so he he put that in words yeah he wrote a
01:05:55
good job yeah yeah there's there's a a part in that book where you um you talk
01:05:59
about business being really tough in the '90s and there was like a time there
01:06:03
where you were just working non-stop just trying to keep your head above water and uh you you you thought about
01:06:09
suicide do you remember that p no I can't remember that P yeah I was going to eat one of those vegetarian
01:06:17
sausages how did he die now like I said to you at the start my memory is not as good as it used to be some things I
01:06:26
remember clearly you know other things I remember the day I met Lance I was doing a there was a phone
01:06:35
box at the beach at o Tangy one of those steel boxes yeah yeah and uh I was doing
01:06:40
a phone out to Alis Wy he was driving the local bus and he was parked right outside and I uh done my thing with
01:06:49
Alice Wy and then walked out and he said you're not the Mad Butcher I said yeah
01:06:54
next thing he's in my place having a cup of them we've been friends ever since
01:06:57
how long ago was that uh maybe 55 years ago yeah are you joking yeah really yeah
01:07:03
how old are you Lance 71 71 [ __ ] he looks good for 71 doesn't he look he's
01:07:08
got a cool p pumers on some some like like kids jeans from howenstein yeah look at 71 he he stole those
01:07:18
shoes does does um does that make you jealous like you know you were in your late 70s you fell over just before and
01:07:26
you got Lance looking like look at looks like a skater no I'm very very grateful
01:07:30
to have him as a friend very grateful yeah does been through some tough times together yeah and we've been there for
01:07:37
each other you know that's uh yeah and yeah my dog's sitting on the sofa next
01:07:44
to him at the moment resting his head on Lance's thigh yeah that dog's a good
01:07:47
judge of character more like a cat that dog yeah not a lot of meat on him yeah oh
01:07:54
um does it get harder when you I mean this this is the perk of getting older I guess you see you see people drop off
01:08:00
around you and you must you mentioned before like you're the youngest of seven
01:08:04
and everyone in your family's died I mean does does that get easier dealing dealing with grief and
01:08:11
dealing with death and seeing people drop off no it's just it's just life you
01:08:15
just got to go you got to ride the wave you know and be you got to be thankful for every day you look at Daniel
01:08:21
Anderson goes body surfing and now is a wheelchairing you know you know life life can be great and
01:08:29
life can be cruel mate you know and you just got to move along and get along with it you
01:08:35
know yeah how how were you through the lockdown period uh I wonder like I didn't mind the lockdown because the
01:08:42
choice the choice of losing your memory you can't bloody remember no because like lockdown was
01:08:49
fine for me because I'm I'm I'm reasonably introverted I guess so I don't mind staying at home but you're
01:08:54
such a social social person did did did you find that period tough I truly can't
01:08:59
remember really oh truly that's the joys of lost see here again I said before you
01:09:04
turn negatives into positive yeah the negativ lose your memory the positive I can't remember those bad days yeah you
01:09:11
know there are some things I remember but some things I don't like meeting Lance clear as a day but other things
01:09:18
like you know also there stories that you've told in the in the past hour or
01:09:21
so with me like your recall in terms of names and stuff it's incredible I think it's really good
01:09:29
you're sucking up to me now mate no no no I'm being genuine about it like you
01:09:33
talk about someone you met at a bloody League game 50 years ago you remember their first and last name oh you
01:09:39
remember special people there's been some really special people you know old guy Barry ins as a very good
01:09:48
friend of mine Derek is another good mate you know Barry's endource pastor away unfortunately dereck's a good guy I
01:09:56
got to ring him I keep saying to myself I got to ring him then I bloody [Music] forget what I do I get people to text me
01:10:04
now cuz I go through my text every day yeah yeah you did that to me the other day when you agreed to come on the
01:10:08
podcast you said text me to remind you yeah which which which I did I didn't
01:10:11
mind um yeah is there ways around the memory loss like do you just write more notes for yourself or no just get people
01:10:17
to text me yeah okay I get people to text me they say well I just do as I'm telling you you know and are you still
01:10:24
dyslexic or did you yeah it's worse now is it yeah it's worse so you you you
01:10:28
never did any sort of like treatment or any sort of special tuition or education
01:10:32
to you've done all right haven't you youve done okay how how do you how do
01:10:37
you do your your Facebook posts you're a regular poster on Facebook just write
01:10:41
them know type them up right yeah but there's nothing wrong with your with your spelling or your writing well spell
01:10:48
check comes in that makes me look a Dicky at times auto correct day it's terrible that's but I need that no I get
01:10:57
by you know look I I don't have a lot of regrets I've done some great things done some good things
01:11:08
met some beautiful people and uh I think I've still got a few years in me hopefully you know yeah as long as they
01:11:15
quality ain't as long as that quality is oh yeah no no I said before you wouldn't
01:11:19
want to be you know yeah yeah yeah um Yeah well yeah yeah I mean you you you shouldn't have too many regrets like you
01:11:31
know um and I suppose part of the joy of doing a podcast like this is um you know
01:11:36
you get to give someone the flowers while they're still here to to receive them it's not you know often people
01:11:40
don't know what a good bugger they wear until they they die and then it's the uy
01:11:44
situation but [ __ ] man you've done so much for so many people I think the main thing is you know
01:11:52
remember the greatest give give your time and I say to people quite often in my Facebook why don't you ring someone
01:11:59
today and make their day CU a phone call I told you before about the lady I run you know yeah just maybe ring them you
01:12:06
know and some days I'll ring four or five people go through my phone just ring people because I forget I ring them
01:12:12
you know just for a chat or just to say hello how are you you know what I mean I
01:12:17
can be short and sharp you know what I mean sometimes um and live a good life you know and treat people how you want
01:12:24
to be treated yourself it's pretty simple you know if you jerk if you jerk people off or try to rip people off it's
01:12:32
going to come back and AR you you know and I well you got to look yourself in the Maru anyway don't you if you do that
01:12:36
I do cuz I'm a good-looking guy oh you need to get those eyes checked I reckon no no I've got very
01:12:44
good Vision to be fair so you're you're not you're not scared of death no because you can't yeah you know
01:12:54
you you you don't look forward to it but you know you just hope you go and you
01:12:58
don't end up being like a vegetable you know what I mean yeah yeah yeah that's
01:13:03
my that's the thing that does scare me you know like our friend now you don't
01:13:08
know what's going on you know it's a terrible thought let keep it positive no negativity I told you yeah
01:13:18
and and when you when when you do eventually die and hopefully it's not for a long time yet how how how do you
01:13:22
want to be remember I couldn't give a [ __ ] cuz I was here yeah so you're not worried about
01:13:29
like Legacy or anything like I've done what I I've done what I want to do because I wanted to do it not
01:13:36
for recognition I don't I don't go out singing what I do to people a lot of
01:13:43
people wouldn't know what I do you know yeah i' agree with that but there must
01:13:48
be thousands of new zealanders that have your number like you you've given your
01:13:51
number out to so many people you look American people I I I took out the other day I didn't post it to get accolades I
01:14:00
posted it to share the love to show other people what they can do you know you don't have to give people a million
01:14:07
dollars but it was just an endorsement of my saying your time giving time is your
01:14:15
most valuable and they really enjoyed it you know uh I I'm hoping we'll stay in
01:14:22
touch you know uh I've contacted her on I think she's on Instagram yeah yeah and uh like I
01:14:30
learned something I I didn't like to ask them if they had children because they
01:14:32
said they' been married for x amount of years and so I was going to say how many
01:14:37
kids you got well better not because they moments I don't know you know anyhow they've got four lovely girls I
01:14:42
saw a photo on her Instagram page you know yeah he just do what you want to do and get out there to M my oh can't say
01:14:51
that one media one go go one media it's always going to be bloody Mount smart isn't it no you got to be
01:14:59
loyal to the sponsors you know yeah yeah that's true you got to you know I mean
01:15:04
I've been very loyal to one New Zealand uh know that's New Zealand voone for
01:15:11
voone and I I still you know voter phone comes up in my head all the time yeah but you can't as I said to Jason that
01:15:19
runs voter Jason Paris yeah yeah I said to him mate you can't I've been saying it for 10 years or
01:15:25
whatever you know it's it's going to slip out now again so just fight the
01:15:29
bullet well it takes it takes time I like I'm I'm um I'm old enough to
01:15:33
remember when uh it was Bell South it was Bell South and then they switched to vone I can't remember that yeah it was B
01:15:40
South and then V and now it's one I think you're lying to me I think you're
01:15:42
making enough to make me feel awful yes yeah well I could lie to you you'll forget about it in half an hour anyway
01:15:49
you can be quite nasty mate is he Lance is he being serious is he trolling me threw his empty Coke bottle at me
01:15:59
yeah that's right Mad Butcher is a litter buug doesn't recycle either just put
01:16:04
this in the bin with all the other rubbish I do recycle I've got a big recycle B on my yardland yeah yes oh
01:16:12
well um yeah any any final words anything you want to say to end with I just wish you're well I hope the podcast
01:16:18
goes well you're a nice young guy you've always been full of life you're very
01:16:22
blessed in a way you're you've always got a bubbly personality and plenty of
01:16:27
you know go you and uh that's a blessing I heard there was an old black speaking one day and he said it's nice
01:16:35
to have the May butcher in the room he's blessed and a guy from the audience said
01:16:40
he's an idiot but in a nice way not in a rude way and he said he can talk to
01:16:46
anyone he said he's blessed he can talk to anyone and he said I can't do that
01:16:51
and I thought about that that night and and I thought yeah I suppose I am in a way cuz I can because not everyone can
01:16:57
you know yeah that's that's true but but you you have an ability to with um
01:17:01
authenticity as well like you don't change you don't you don't change
01:17:04
depending on who you you're speaking to I am I am what I am yeah what you see is
01:17:08
what you get in your case you know you've got this very full-on personality and you're full of life you you know you
01:17:16
around so that's good mate and just enjoy it you know and make the most and my last word to every body let's all
01:17:24
make an effort and share the love out there and make New Zealand a better place than it
01:17:28
is I think that's a great place to end it sir Peter leech the M butcher thanks
01:17:33
so much for your time today throwing just throwing me a pile of warrior what is it Warrior posters
01:17:40
Warrior posters oh you didn't even get them bloody signed hey you're not that good a friend
01:17:47
mate hey um thank you for your friendship over the years you are genuinely one of the one of the greatest
01:17:53
New Zealand is around and I can't thank you enough for finally coming around and
01:17:57
doing this podcast today [Music] so