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hey Runners only with dime Harley
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Runners only with dom Harvey and for the
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second time Archibald Arch jelly g'day
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mate
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hi dog so great to have you back here
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move that microphone in a little bit uh
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first of all thank you so much for
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coming here it was um it was actually a
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little bit of a challenge you you were
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reluctant to do this I messaged you and
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you said to me
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um what what more is there to talk about
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we caught up a year ago not much has
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happened since then yeah well I don't
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think it is nothing much has changed I I
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don't think yeah but um I mean last year
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we we spoke for uh like an hour and you
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were 99 at the time so I mean come on
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that's like that's like 36 to 40 seconds
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per year of your life and it's been an
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amazing rich life and it's still going
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so I feel like there's a there's there's
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a lot to tap into and A lot's happened
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on the podcast since the last year I've
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got a studio set up now yeah
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um right TV cameras and stuff so and
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you're such a remarkable man with a
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remarkable mind and you've seen so much
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and done so much
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um and it's an honor and a privilege to
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have you here to um get some of these
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stories and preserve them so that people
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can watch them in the future
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no I hope they were just listening to of
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course they are uh first of all I I
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outsourced a lot of the questions for
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today I said on social media that you're
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coming over and there were thousands of
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comments a lot of them from former
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students
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so many of them like uh Tim Stevens
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who's 43 said uh Arch was my first
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Primary School principal how is he still
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alive
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and then there was uh Penny Burton who
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was at Mount roskill in 1960. oh yes I
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remember her well oh you don't do you no
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do you of course from 60 years ago
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yeah uh flew at Guthrie she says Arch
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was my principal at sunnybrae normal
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school in the 1980s would love him to
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share some funny or favorite memories
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from that time the 1980s yeah being a
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school principal and a school teacher
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for a big part of your life were there
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were there kids that had names that you
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associated with bad kids so you'd see
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the school role at the start of the year
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and you'd be like oh there's a oh
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there's a dougie Dougies are always bad
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news do you know what I mean no no no no
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no
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anybody anybody like that no never oh
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God there's a Dominic he's bound to be
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trouble
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all right
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all right I am
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something oh first of all how was your
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100th birthday last year so we spoke um
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when you were 99 and three quarters uh
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you turned 100 you had a I saw the
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celebration on the news
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um how did you celebrate your 100th uh
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all sorts of uh celebrations
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and like there was a big one that uh at
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Pan song uh and you know many a lot of
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people there and then there was uh one
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at the bridge club and uh which was very
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enjoyable and then the next day we had
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the uh hundred by one mile relay and uh
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and even I had to no I was going to say
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run I didn't run I walked the uh the
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four laps of the track but I was
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accompanied by about 34 others I think
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on my leg so
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uh I think my uh I had the honor of uh
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of uh doing the slowest League
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you saw on your on your 100th birthday
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you run a mile which is four laps of the
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track now walked Walked it yeah okay
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yeah walked um how do you how do you
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feel after that at your age like are you
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exhausted after walking that far or ah
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not really because I was used to walking
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you know three or four k a day
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not that fast though yeah well it
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doesn't matter though does it you're
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still getting out you're still doing um
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a lot more physical activity than a lot
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of people three you know 75 years
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younger than you oh I'm doing a bit yeah
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I could I could do a bit more I think
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you know yeah yeah yeah yeah come on
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push yourself don't be lazy a bit lazy I
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see you're wearing it like a garment
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you're wearing a Garmin watch how many
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steps do you do in most days oh about uh
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I try and do about between five and six
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thousand yeah yeah yeah
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take the steps or do you take the
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elevator
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you take the elevator yeah
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occasionally I'll take the steps not
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often yeah
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um one thing that I since we've become
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acquainted one thing that I found quite
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interesting um so earlier this year I
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had Zane Robertson on my podcast uh it
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was like a oh this is after he um
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confessed to doping and received a seven
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year ban
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um and he he came on the podcast and it
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was very emotional and very tearful and
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then you reached out to me asking for
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his email address at the age of bloody
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100.
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um can I ask what was your message to
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him what did you what did you say oh
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well you know I sympathize them in some
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ways but of course he he made uh a few
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bad decisions and you know you've got to
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live with that
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yeah there was it was very nice of you
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though to reach out I thought there was
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some remarkable you you still keep your
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finger on the pulse when it comes to
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Athletics oh absolutely yeah I've even
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noticed some on the the app Strava well
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whenever I upload a run sometimes I'll
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get a I'll get a like or a Kudos from
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Arts jelly I get the notification on my
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on my phone or my wrist and it makes me
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feel very happy
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makes me feel bad that I'm not running
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faster or longer
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yeah
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um and at the time of recording this uh
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it's an ambulance coming to get you
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uh Sam Tanner uh he has openly said that
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he'd like to break the New Zealand
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record for the one mile this year
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um which you and John Walker still hold
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oh I don't hold it
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you're very humble but you you don't you
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think you deserve some of the some of
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the critics coach I bet yeah so this was
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said in 1982. yeah twin John was 30. can
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you remember the time
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oh I think it was uh
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349
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08
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correct yeah yeah how do you feel about
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that do you think Sam Tanner has gotten
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to beat that record uh I would think so
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yeah the uh
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uh it's very very hard to compare times
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uh present day times with times of the
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past how so oh well I mean the the
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tracks are improved the uh the springy
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shoes that they use that they they make
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a significant difference
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uh and if you compare say uh the times
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that Peter Snell did 144-3 in the the
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record is you know about three seconds
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faster but none of the present-day
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Runners could could match Peter's time
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on the on the grass track that he ran on
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yeah so it's hard to Compare running
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through it yeah and times it's
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remarkable isn't it that this was 41
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years ago and this record still stands
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in spite of all the advancements oh it's
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incredible Runner yeah
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yeah how would you feel about would you
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would you rather die with that record
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still intact or would you like to see it
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beaten or are you just oh and different
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no it would it wouldn't worry me at all
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either way because all records are made
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to be broken yeah and I suppose it's a
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testament to John's ability and your
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coaching that it's uh stood for so long
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oh well you know he in in his time he
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was the uh the best in the world for you
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know for about three years and and you
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know
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that's what you've got to match really I
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mean I think Sam I I think he's a great
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Runner and uh the Birmingham games uh
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his run of you know 331 that was the
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highlight for me I thought it was a
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fantastic right now just shows that he's
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he's got the ability to uh you know go a
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long way
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still got so much love for the sport
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like I can see your eyes light up when
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you talk about Sam Tanner and what he's
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what he's doing do you regret
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um not coaching a bit longer no no no no
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no I know okay for years
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but you've still got so much so much
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knowledge and so much to offer
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oh yeah but it's um oh it's a great
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sport to be associated with yeah
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um can I ask you today uh the day that
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we're recording this um you're 100 years
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old
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um a couple of months away from turning
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uh 101 how old do you feel
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uh well I do feel a bit older than I
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than I previously felt but uh I don't
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know you can't put a number on it really
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but you wake up in the morning you feel
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good you wake up and you think I'm lucky
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it's another day or oh I just I just
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feel that you know the same as I've
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always felt
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what are the um as I said um I put on
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social media that you're coming in and
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got a lot of questions um this one or
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variations of it came up repeatedly uh
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what do you think of the top tips for a
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long healthy rewarding life
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oh I think the the main thing is is to
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keep moving and you need plenty plenty
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of exercise I mean of course when we
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were when we were young uh
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nobody had motor cars and we walked or
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or soccer everywhere and I remember when
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I used to I was walking working in the
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city in Dunedin and uh we used to get
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the cable car down and and if we if we
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missed the cable car we we ran down beat
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the cable car and uh so you know all
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good training and yeah we talked about
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your walking before so you're still
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active to this day what about and you're
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not um you're not a smoker um you're not
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much of a doctor I gave up smoking yeah
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yeah yeah but you told me this last year
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so you you smoked like a few times when
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you were like eight or something no no
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no no
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and drinking alcohol hasn't played much
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of a part in your life not really no no
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yeah
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um what about diet what's it what's an
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average day look like for the jelly
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house household oh we always have
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Partners decide whether we eat anything
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really no special diet yeah
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but you like in terms of like when you
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were a kid to now I'm guessing there
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wasn't a lot of processed food back then
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like there was no fast food no not much
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junk food
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it's quite healthy and clean growing up
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oh yes
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I grew up in the depression and so it
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seems were you know very tight where
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everybody was really hard up but we
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didn't feel uh deprived at all yeah so
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this is the Great Depression of the
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1930s so you would have been
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um like 77 years old yeah no in the late
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late 20s late 20s yeah yeah things were
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pretty tough yeah what did your dad do
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for employment he was the local barber
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and a Tobacconist and he was a a
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Gallipoli veteran he's wounded there and
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and I think one and he was a tremendous
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smoker and we work at how many million
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cigarettes he smoked and but he had
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followed with all five of us and uh none
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of us have ever really smoked yeah heck
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what do you think that is how come none
00:11:07
of the jelly kids took to her
00:11:09
oh well it kills my father hmm
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but
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I mean so this is the like the 1930s
00:11:16
we're talking about yeah I remember
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seeing TV commercials from like the 60s
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or 70s and they said doctors recommend
00:11:22
smoking and yeah smoking was seen as
00:11:23
like a cool sort of thing so you didn't
00:11:26
have the knowledge back then that it was
00:11:27
a killer no no it didn't no that's right
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you just didn't like it oh yeah
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don't know yeah just wasn't interested
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really yeah well that's lucky isn't it
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yeah and um what someone wanted to ask
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what's your earliest memory I I know on
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the podcast last year you shared a story
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um about your brother chopping your
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finger off when you were fine oh no I
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think I I've got one earlier
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recollection that's when uh I was at the
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uh I think it was called the uh the
00:11:57
South Seas Exhibition at in Logan Park
00:12:00
in Dunedin and I was on I think I was
00:12:04
about four and I was on a little
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Merry-Go-Round and and I think if I had
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blew off and a nice
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I tried to get my head and I sort of
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fell off and they had to you know stop
00:12:15
everything
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and then um yeah the lawn mowing thing
00:12:19
for anyone that hasn't listened to the
00:12:20
podcast last year so you and your
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brother were mowing the Lawns you said
00:12:23
it was with scissors do you mean like
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sort of um shears or we didn't have a
00:12:28
lawnmower and and it was only a small
00:12:30
lawn and I was
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cutting the lawn with uh scissors
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ordinary scissors like okay like how
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sewing scissors yeah and uh my elder
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brother who's only uh you know two years
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older than me he uh dad had given him
00:12:46
the hedge clippers and we got too close
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and uh one of my fingers had almost
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slashed off where's how did the surgeons
00:12:54
do a good job what finger is it oh no oh
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it's oh that one there oh yeah oh hold
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it up to the camera
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oh wow wow and then so then um you you
00:13:07
didn't have a vehicle so you had to run
00:13:09
to the hospital I remember
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um uh my uh the tip of my finger was
00:13:16
hanging by a thread I remember my father
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cutting it all and dropping it in the
00:13:20
holes in the garden
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whereas today you'd have put a put it on
00:13:25
ice on ice and reattached it and then we
00:13:28
uh I was yeah I was about five or six I
00:13:31
remember we walked up to the cable car
00:13:34
and that's about uh a thousand meters or
00:13:37
so and then took the cable car down to
00:13:39
the city and then took the electric tram
00:13:43
along and then walked from there to the
00:13:45
hospital and then I was there for about
00:13:46
a week were you quite calm or were you
00:13:51
it wasn't really painful right right
00:13:55
amazing uh someone wanted to know um if
00:13:58
you've got any War Stories you were you
00:13:59
were in a submarine run were you part of
00:14:01
the Navy
00:14:02
uh for a while yeah so this was World
00:14:04
War II um how long were you were you
00:14:07
away for you told me a story last year
00:14:08
on the podcast about uh coming back home
00:14:10
and not recognizing your little brother
00:14:12
I I went away when I was uh 20 we went
00:14:16
to uh in the Navy and we went to uh
00:14:19
England via uh Panama New York and then
00:14:25
and then to England and uh I had my uh
00:14:27
21st birthday at in Jack Dempsey's bar
00:14:32
in New York
00:14:35
but I wasn't a drinker at all but we
00:14:38
were in the that's where we had had the
00:14:40
celebration and then I was in the three
00:14:42
months course at uh shotley gate in
00:14:46
England that's near Ipswich Colchester
00:14:49
and then I was posted to uh
00:14:54
a cruiser just uh HMS Bermuda and we
00:14:58
were on the Russian Convoy and we went
00:15:01
to uh
00:15:02
picked up the Convoy uh just uh just
00:15:06
near uh in Iceland rich javik and then
00:15:10
we went on to uh Nicola Inlet and we
00:15:14
were and we were very lucky because the
00:15:17
the weather was bad uh very low
00:15:20
visibility and uh low clouds so we we
00:15:26
didn't there were no uh the German
00:15:29
submarines and the uh uh planes and that
00:15:33
sort of thing we never saw them and on
00:15:35
the way back it was the same we had bad
00:15:38
weather and we got through and nobody
00:15:42
and no ships in the Convoy were were
00:15:46
sunk do you look back now and think how
00:15:48
lucky you were that uh that you made it
00:15:51
home
00:15:59
November December which is in in the
00:16:02
middle of winter over there and of
00:16:04
course tremendously cold but on the uh
00:16:07
uh action stations where I was I was
00:16:10
down about uh three flights in the uh in
00:16:15
the high angle control room and very
00:16:18
warm down there because we know no show
00:16:22
getting out of anything happened you
00:16:24
know you heard in the bells of the ship
00:16:26
but you never thought about that sort of
00:16:28
thing yeah it was it only when you when
00:16:30
you get home or as you get a bit older
00:16:31
that you think actually that could have
00:16:32
been very very different yeah well thank
00:16:35
you for serving our country I appreciate
00:16:37
that how many years were you gone for
00:16:39
because you did mention last night when
00:16:40
we got back uh to uh UK
00:16:44
I was seconded to the uh what they call
00:16:49
The King Alfred that was at Hove near
00:16:51
Brighton and I did the uh
00:16:54
uh sub lieutenants course
00:16:57
and when I was there uh at the end of
00:17:00
the course they you had to say which
00:17:03
branch of the Navy
00:17:05
uh you'd you'd like to serve in
00:17:08
and not that that would make any
00:17:10
difference because but you are like put
00:17:13
you with a tough life so for some
00:17:16
unknown reason I said I'd like to uh
00:17:19
soon in the submarine service I don't
00:17:22
know why uh generate so I was sent up to
00:17:26
uh
00:17:27
lies up in Northumberland and I I did
00:17:30
the submarine Corsair
00:17:32
which was fairly stringent and then I
00:17:36
was supposed to uh Coastal submarines
00:17:39
either as a uh torpedo or Gunnery
00:17:43
officer or
00:17:44
my last job was officer Navigator I
00:17:48
suppose being a young a young man from
00:17:50
Dunedin like the thought of
00:17:52
even seeing a submarine let alone being
00:17:54
on one is quite enticing hmm I I think I
00:17:57
was going to say to after I finished the
00:18:00
uh
00:18:02
the course the sub of tenders course at
00:18:06
King Alfred some bus were sent to
00:18:08
Greenwich to do sort of a
00:18:13
uh or sort of to learn the ways of the
00:18:16
Navy you know to have the right demeanor
00:18:19
for an officer all that sort of stuff
00:18:21
and I suppose they tried to make a
00:18:24
gentlemen out of here and who who was it
00:18:27
the uh somebody said I was just thinking
00:18:30
the famous New Zealander
00:18:31
uh I can't record who it was but he said
00:18:35
uh
00:18:36
about this course he said we're not
00:18:39
gentlemen we're new zealanders
00:18:44
I love it how's your how's your mental
00:18:47
health been over the years mental health
00:18:48
is a it's a very very big topic now and
00:18:50
um you know you look at the the
00:18:52
statistics and stuff and uh you know
00:18:54
we're in a mental health crisis here in
00:18:56
New Zealand but something that has
00:18:57
struck me with um the elderly people
00:19:00
I've had on the podcast is it's just not
00:19:02
something that was ever discussed about
00:19:03
or almost seemingly not even a thing
00:19:06
how's yours been over the years I mean
00:19:07
you don't get to 100 without you know
00:19:09
dealing with a lot of heartbreak loss
00:19:11
grief and sadness oh no I've just sort
00:19:14
of coped okay you know yeah
00:19:16
what's been the what's been some of the
00:19:18
toughest times
00:19:20
I'm thinking of the passing of your of
00:19:22
your wife yeah you know you would
00:19:23
together for many many years oh yeah
00:19:25
well that was that was very sudden we
00:19:28
you know it was all over in the month we
00:19:30
didn't know anything about it you know
00:19:32
you've just got to you know you just got
00:19:34
to come to terms with that sort of thing
00:19:36
yeah where does that resilience come
00:19:38
from do you think I'm not sure really uh
00:19:44
yeah I'm not sure really but that uh the
00:19:47
uh the phrase the philosophy I I quite
00:19:50
like and it's probably what uh and
00:19:54
Martin have had it then but there's a
00:19:57
uh you know the actor Michael Kane yeah
00:20:01
well uh he was when he was uh first
00:20:05
acting as a young actor he was ready to
00:20:08
uh come on stage and there were there
00:20:11
were a couple already on the stage and
00:20:13
they were having a violent quarrel and
00:20:17
somebody who won them through a chair
00:20:20
and it and it it blocked
00:20:23
uh the entrance way where Marco was
00:20:25
supposed to come on and he said there's
00:20:28
quite my gun to do and uh the director
00:20:32
said use the difficulty
00:20:35
and by that so he said he used the
00:20:38
difficulty he said if it's a tragedy
00:20:40
submission's here
00:20:42
and if it's a comedy fall over it
00:20:45
and so by that he meant that even though
00:20:50
a situation might be very very bad
00:20:53
it's uh there will be something good
00:20:57
that you know can come out of it it's
00:20:59
just finding that silver lining is it
00:21:01
yeah and then right
00:21:03
in the last few months we've uh Gene and
00:21:08
I have both stopped driving
00:21:11
and
00:21:12
and that's sort of a situation which you
00:21:16
know you're not very keen on because
00:21:18
you're tends to take away some of your
00:21:22
independence of course but uh there are
00:21:26
positives in that because firstly uh uh
00:21:30
you're far better off financially
00:21:31
without having a car and uh and secondly
00:21:35
you can you're forced to do a lot more
00:21:38
walking so it helps your general fitness
00:21:40
so that was the so we were using the
00:21:44
difficulty
00:21:45
yeah because a lot of people these days
00:21:48
talk about just the um the you know the
00:21:50
impact that the the pandemic and the
00:21:52
lockdowns that had on people and the
00:21:53
impact it's had on our mental health but
00:21:55
I mean just some of the stories you've
00:21:57
read it off in the last 20 minutes about
00:21:58
you know your dad coming back from
00:22:00
Gallipoli and uh you being raised in the
00:22:02
Great Depression you're going to war and
00:22:05
you think of all the things that you've
00:22:06
said in your lifetime and um you've just
00:22:09
seemed to manage to like just brush
00:22:10
everything off and just you know keep
00:22:12
and carry on as the postices
00:22:15
yeah well I think yeah I think you've
00:22:18
got to I think you know your attitude to
00:22:20
what so and your philosophy of life you
00:22:23
know plays a big difference as opposed
00:22:25
to you know a big part
00:22:27
you know thanks for sharing that Insight
00:22:28
someone wanted to ask the question
00:22:31
um and I I being exactly half your age
00:22:34
myself 50 I like this question uh what's
00:22:37
been better the first half or the second
00:22:38
half
00:22:39
just while you think about that I was um
00:22:41
thinking about that on the drive to your
00:22:43
retirement village this morning to pick
00:22:44
you up
00:22:45
um all your huge successes with John
00:22:48
Walker happened in the second half
00:22:51
career you know career-wise it's a
00:22:53
running coach yeah probably did yeah
00:22:55
yeah so what about anything's been a
00:22:57
first half second half yeah when uh
00:23:00
when I I started coaching John Walker
00:23:02
I'd served you know a very long
00:23:04
apprenticeship so it was really uh you
00:23:07
know it was really a collision between a
00:23:11
fairly seasoned coach and a and a in a a
00:23:14
fantastic athlete and so uh I was lucky
00:23:20
that I'd served at apprenticeship first
00:23:21
so I I knew what I was talking about and
00:23:24
what I was doing yeah so the hard work
00:23:26
was done in the in the first half of
00:23:27
your life and then you managed to to rip
00:23:29
the fruits of your labor in the second
00:23:30
half yeah because I've got a lot of
00:23:32
friends the same age as me who are 50
00:23:33
and they're sort of like winding down
00:23:35
you know that but I reckon it's like a
00:23:38
it's a halfway mark and it's a new
00:23:39
chapter and uh you're never too old to
00:23:41
do anything new right oh absolutely yeah
00:23:43
uh when did you notice people started to
00:23:45
treat you differently because you were
00:23:46
old
00:23:49
okay
00:23:51
I was probably yeah
00:23:52
just since I turned 100 are they
00:23:56
because I
00:23:58
yeah that'd be right
00:24:02
what do you I I would I would have
00:24:04
thought people would treat you like more
00:24:06
special since you're 100 like uh
00:24:09
I don't know like like put you on a bit
00:24:11
of a pedestal do you know what I mean
00:24:13
oh no if I if I get a ride at a taxi and
00:24:16
uh and uh and I mentioned that uh
00:24:19
perhaps that I'm the oldest client he's
00:24:22
ever had
00:24:23
they they're absolutely staggered yeah
00:24:26
well I think it's just I mean a lot of
00:24:29
people say they they want to live to a
00:24:31
lot of younger people or people my age
00:24:32
say they want to live to 100 and I mean
00:24:35
you uh I think you're the poster child
00:24:37
for that because everyone wants to it's
00:24:39
a figure it's almost like a mythical
00:24:40
figure because not many people make it
00:24:41
and to make it to 100 still be
00:24:43
physically fit and mentally as capable
00:24:45
as what you are I think um this is
00:24:47
something that like everyone would
00:24:48
aspire to so people want to like tap
00:24:51
into that and find out if there is a
00:24:52
secret no I don't I don't think there's
00:24:55
any secret because you need a bit of
00:24:57
luck because I mean I've survived quite
00:25:00
a few you know fractures and uh
00:25:03
operations and that sort of thing
00:25:06
yeah you had a when did you get your
00:25:07
knee done and 90 my knee yeah it was a
00:25:11
full knee replacement I was I was quite
00:25:13
young and I was only 98.
00:25:17
I'm amazed were they reluctant to give
00:25:19
you one like were they scared of the
00:25:21
complications at that age or no Did you
00:25:23
sort of have to push for it no no they
00:25:25
seemed to be quite happy yeah yeah and
00:25:27
you recovered all right
00:25:28
oh yes accepted it it was a very
00:25:31
successful operation but uh the patient
00:25:33
nearly died because he he managed to
00:25:36
contact pneumonia which is a bit of a
00:25:38
killer for the old boys you made it
00:25:42
through
00:25:43
um in your opinion is society better or
00:25:46
worse than say 50 years ago
00:25:48
in your opinion is society better or
00:25:51
worse than say 50 years ago
00:25:54
uh I think it's uh far more violent than
00:25:57
it was and uh like uh when when I was
00:26:01
brought up I mean if there was a murder
00:26:03
that was an incredible event you know
00:26:06
but now it happens every week
00:26:09
yeah there's a very big difference
00:26:11
aren't they yeah of course there's a far
00:26:13
more a far greater population but even
00:26:16
even taking it into account
00:26:18
hmm what do you think that is as a lack
00:26:20
of respect or
00:26:23
don't know it's uh I think the uh the
00:26:26
social media and the uh you know uh
00:26:29
iPhones I've got one of course but I
00:26:31
mean I mean that I think that's got a
00:26:34
lot to uh
00:26:36
that's you know every everything can be
00:26:39
seen you know right away now and and
00:26:42
it makes things very different yeah I
00:26:46
think it's that Insight someone wanted
00:26:48
to know this is a running question what
00:26:50
do runners do now which Arch thinks we
00:26:53
shouldn't be doing and where we should
00:26:55
go back and learn from the days gone by
00:26:57
I can think of one thing uh I I probably
00:27:00
rely too much on my watch like I'm
00:27:01
obsessed with my rock watch if my watch
00:27:03
hasn't connected to the GPS satellite I
00:27:05
don't start running
00:27:08
back in the day I'm guessing John was
00:27:11
just doing laps or whatever without a
00:27:13
watch and maybe you had a stopwatch
00:27:14
that's right yeah
00:27:19
yeah I think I think the uh
00:27:22
you know what they did like for example
00:27:24
the athologies uh scheduled you know
00:27:28
were fantastic really and uh you know he
00:27:31
sort of uh spearhead a revolution in
00:27:33
training but uh on the other hand uh
00:27:37
that doesn't mean to say that uh there
00:27:40
aren't better ways
00:27:42
and like most uh uh coach coaches in
00:27:46
most countries they would have adopted
00:27:49
uh artist ideas and just about every uh
00:27:53
uh every top athlete would would be in
00:27:57
in debt to Arthur for that but they've
00:28:00
accepted that but then they've gone on
00:28:01
and developed some better ideas and puts
00:28:05
on on top of what I had to steal it so
00:28:08
uh so not like not Reinventing the wheel
00:28:10
just sort of tweaking it yeah and and
00:28:12
making so I think it would be a mistake
00:28:15
to think that if you uh if you uh train
00:28:19
exactly according to Arthur that you'd
00:28:22
reach the top now you wouldn't because
00:28:24
but you're still uh you won't reach the
00:28:27
top though an issue except aftercide is
00:28:29
and then pin your own uh ideas on top of
00:28:33
that yeah did you and Arthur have much
00:28:35
to do with each other or not really
00:28:37
oh yes yeah we we but there's one thing
00:28:40
we never discussed running yeah when
00:28:43
you've discussed running
00:28:45
it's the one thing you've got in common
00:28:48
isn't that odd
00:28:50
and did you meet um when um Bill
00:28:53
Bowerman from Nike came to New Zealand
00:28:55
did you did you meet him I never met him
00:28:57
no no
00:28:58
um
00:28:59
someone wants to ask what do you worry
00:29:01
about these days
00:29:04
oh I don't worry about much really yeah
00:29:09
that's a great great space to be in what
00:29:12
advice would you give your your 30 or 40
00:29:14
year old self
00:29:16
save more for your retirement you're
00:29:17
gonna be here a while
00:29:19
my my 30 or 40 years a bit late for that
00:29:23
uh what is something that you didn't
00:29:26
care much for when you were younger that
00:29:27
you place importance on today
00:29:33
no I just can't think of anything uh
00:29:35
yeah really
00:29:37
hmm what makes you laugh
00:29:42
oh there's a lot of things on the uh you
00:29:47
know uh
00:29:49
also there's all sorts of things that
00:29:51
come over on the air and that sort of
00:29:53
thing that you know I quite like and
00:29:55
I don't know if I laugh out loud
00:30:00
you've still got a very good sense of
00:30:02
humor and it's definitely still intact
00:30:04
um yeah we were talking on the drive on
00:30:05
the way and one of your favorite TV
00:30:07
shows is the chase you watch that most
00:30:08
nights oh yeah what's the chase a couple
00:30:12
of laughs on that no doubt but then
00:30:13
Bradley the host yeah
00:30:15
um as a um what are your thoughts on
00:30:18
disciplining and raising children how
00:30:19
were you raised and how did you raise
00:30:21
your kids
00:30:24
we
00:30:25
we never had to uh you know uh hit the
00:30:29
kids or anything like that you just
00:30:31
treat them as Ordinary People you know
00:30:33
talk to them and that sort of thing and
00:30:34
you know
00:30:36
it's very very nothing special yeah
00:30:39
um what's something about the world that
00:30:41
completely blows you away
00:30:46
oh probably the uh
00:30:50
yeah the
00:30:54
example the uh what goes on in the in
00:30:58
the States you know when when they're
00:31:01
taking a new prison all this sort of
00:31:03
stuff and you know there's millions and
00:31:04
millions of dollars involved it's it
00:31:07
just seems absolutely crazy and and the
00:31:10
fact that uh uh to to be elected as
00:31:15
president you've got to be uh someone
00:31:17
who uh
00:31:19
encourages more guns to be sold and
00:31:21
that's the thing I mean it's just
00:31:23
absolutely crazy but it'll never change
00:31:25
yeah yeah no it won't you did right it's
00:31:29
a funny observation thanks for that uh
00:31:31
as a society where do you think we have
00:31:33
gone wrong
00:31:37
uh it's hard to say really yeah yeah
00:31:40
yeah
00:31:41
um is there anything you still have on
00:31:42
your bucket list do you know what a
00:31:44
bucket list is
00:31:45
absolutely yeah
00:31:47
I I don't I don't have a bucket list but
00:31:50
I do like to have uh uh I do like to be
00:31:54
working on on some sort of you know
00:31:57
project and that sort of thing and uh
00:31:58
and that's uh you know quite an
00:32:01
incentive yeah what is it at the moment
00:32:03
what's the project oh it might be
00:32:05
writing uh a booklet on bridge or
00:32:09
something like that or or doing some
00:32:11
work on uh genealogy
00:32:14
uh had him like a family tree yeah yeah
00:32:18
I hope you've got relatives that are
00:32:20
like you know picking your brains
00:32:22
um because you've got so much knowledge
00:32:23
to share oh it's all uh
00:32:26
it's all there electronically yeah
00:32:30
um what is something that he wishes
00:32:32
younger people knew today
00:32:34
yummy people yeah what is something that
00:32:36
Arch wishes younger people today knew
00:32:40
oh I've never thought about that yeah
00:32:42
[Music]
00:32:44
what age would he like to get to
00:32:47
uh
00:32:49
I've got uh I wouldn't have any thoughts
00:32:53
on that except if I was uh as long as
00:32:57
long as I'm healthy uh physically and
00:32:59
mentally I I don't mind yeah because you
00:33:02
you told me last year on the podcast
00:33:03
that um you there's like a an app on
00:33:06
your iPhone like a when will you die app
00:33:08
a death calculator you remember that
00:33:11
yeah yeah so when did you do that 97 oh
00:33:15
yeah that was just see you put in all
00:33:17
the uh it's all rubbish of course you
00:33:20
you put in all the uh physical and
00:33:23
mental characteristics and then it comes
00:33:26
out with a number and I think I uh I
00:33:29
think they told me I had three years to
00:33:31
go it was like four or five years ago
00:33:34
now yeah that's all it's all you know
00:33:36
rather yeah uh What technological
00:33:39
advancements have amazed to you the most
00:33:40
in your lifetime
00:33:43
uh it'd really be to do with you know
00:33:46
social media with the iPhones and
00:33:48
computers and that's all I have made a
00:33:49
tremendous difference
00:33:51
because it seems like um
00:33:53
I mean I can't speak on behalf of you
00:33:55
but it feels like uh technologies that
00:33:57
have moved along you know relatively
00:33:59
Speedy but then the last sort of 20
00:34:00
years it's been exponential so I'm
00:34:02
guessing when you were a little boy
00:34:03
there was no not even radio
00:34:05
well it was it was radio yep yeah we
00:34:08
were in a very we were very hard up
00:34:10
family but uh we did have you know quite
00:34:13
a good radio and uh and it was one where
00:34:17
you had wet batteries and dry batteries
00:34:19
and that sort of thing what's a wheat
00:34:21
battery
00:34:22
uh that's one you've got to uh you know
00:34:25
chat and that sort of thing
00:34:26
oh well I suppose a a car battery is a
00:34:29
wet battery right yeah and but I
00:34:31
remember and be what it might be in the
00:34:34
uh 1930s and my father was a cricket
00:34:38
fanatic and uh like he he Empires
00:34:42
Cricket uh including matches against
00:34:45
various countries uh for about 20 years
00:34:48
and uh and then right before he became
00:34:52
an Umpire though uh we used to listen
00:34:54
into the uh the ashes
00:34:58
and and it'd be uh it must have been in
00:35:01
England because it was we would be we
00:35:03
were just kids but we would be up with
00:35:06
Dad listening to the radio
00:35:08
and and you know Brad Ben and woodfall
00:35:12
and kippax and all that crowd and uh and
00:35:15
you'd hear the uh you're just here
00:35:18
because there's no TV you could hear the
00:35:21
commentator then you'd hear the ball
00:35:23
striking the bat but of course it wasn't
00:35:26
so all they were doing was uh tapping a
00:35:29
pencil off on the table and making sound
00:35:32
effects yeah
00:35:33
I I remember that very well we used to
00:35:36
uh uh we we used to be sitting up night
00:35:40
after night listening and then when did
00:35:43
when did TV come along do you remember
00:35:44
it was was TV something that only the
00:35:46
rich had initially
00:35:48
on a TV I remember getting TV when I was
00:35:51
lived in Mount Albert and that was about
00:35:53
the
00:35:54
late 1950s also you were like a grown
00:35:57
man by then oh haven't you yeah was that
00:35:59
exciting
00:36:01
oh yeah yeah yeah
00:36:03
it was our I remember dad coming up and
00:36:06
staying at our place and uh he was uh it
00:36:08
was a black and white TV and he was you
00:36:11
know watching the cricket he was quite
00:36:13
impressed
00:36:16
yeah how have you managed to keep up
00:36:18
with everything hey you know because
00:36:19
it'd be very easy for you to like I
00:36:22
don't know when cell phones came out in
00:36:23
the 80s or the 90s to just get a Nokia
00:36:25
and be comfortable with that rather than
00:36:27
you face the daunting Prospect of
00:36:29
getting an iPhone and getting getting
00:36:31
familiarized with all that how have you
00:36:33
coped with all the change because so
00:36:34
many don't I've always been a gadget man
00:36:37
I've always loved I love gadgets I'd
00:36:40
always like to have the the latest up to
00:36:42
date with us
00:36:43
yeah and you you use it very well as I
00:36:46
mentioned before are you liking python
00:36:47
Strava and things
00:36:49
um
00:36:50
what do you consider to be your greatest
00:36:51
achievement or proudest moments in life
00:36:56
uh
00:36:58
it would depend on you know which
00:37:00
category we're talking about really but
00:37:03
I I don't sort of think about that sort
00:37:04
of thing
00:37:05
now there's a good chance I know you
00:37:07
don't think about it because you're very
00:37:08
very humble it's hard to get anything
00:37:10
out of you but maybe now now's a good
00:37:11
chance to put like let me get the ball
00:37:13
rolling professionally John Walker's
00:37:15
gold medal
00:37:17
oh yeah that would be uh that would be
00:37:21
a a top yeah absolutely okay and another
00:37:24
compartment professionally in your
00:37:26
career as a school teacher and
00:37:27
Headmaster
00:37:28
um just making such a massive impact on
00:37:30
thousands of kids life I mean as I
00:37:32
mentioned so many of them have reached
00:37:33
out to me in the past week and no this
00:37:35
is Testament to you and bear in mind
00:37:37
it's a different generation it's a
00:37:39
generation where there was um corporal
00:37:40
punishment you could Strap kids or give
00:37:42
them the cane or whatever no no one is
00:37:44
not I was not I wasn't great on that oh
00:37:47
I I know I know this there's not one
00:37:50
former student that has an unkind word
00:37:51
to say about you which I think says a
00:37:53
lot
00:37:55
um and what about personally
00:37:58
the greatest achievement or proudest
00:37:59
moment personally
00:38:00
oh it's probably you know when you get
00:38:02
married the other day yeah
00:38:05
yeah when was that when did you get
00:38:06
married 19 first firstly yeah 53 53 and
00:38:11
she passed away two thousand yeah
00:38:15
and then you married
00:38:16
um oh we touched upon this in the
00:38:18
podcast last year but there's probably a
00:38:20
lot of people watching or listening to
00:38:21
this that didn't listen to the podcast
00:38:22
last year it's a hell of a story so you
00:38:25
and your first wife and your now wife
00:38:28
and her husband you were like a like a
00:38:30
foursome you used to yeah it used to go
00:38:33
away yeah and uh Gina Jean was my bridge
00:38:36
partner and uh so Gene's your now wife
00:38:39
your second wife and uh playbridge and
00:38:42
Rachel and uh David David Metzger they
00:38:45
used to go and look at all the uh you
00:38:48
know uh shops and all that sort of stuff
00:38:52
and while we play bridge yeah
00:38:55
yeah and so then and there was never any
00:38:58
sort of attraction between
00:38:59
um you and Gene while you were married
00:39:01
and what she was married yeah you never
00:39:03
even thought about that but then and
00:39:04
then when you did you did your first
00:39:07
um Partners die in quite quick
00:39:09
succession yeah within the same year
00:39:11
though but they died here yeah so it
00:39:13
just seemed like a natural logical thing
00:39:15
like all you and me as we'll get
00:39:16
together now
00:39:17
oh I know we didn't think about the
00:39:19
southwest and then after a couple years
00:39:21
we decided her just like a convenience
00:39:24
thing or uh were you bonded on your
00:39:27
Mutual grief what was that
00:39:30
uh
00:39:33
somebody asked you to you know how I
00:39:36
propose and she said well I don't think
00:39:38
he ever proposed and she said that Dean
00:39:42
said that he's
00:39:44
he's not the romantic type
00:39:47
and uh apparently I said oh no I'm the
00:39:51
more pragmatic whatever that means yeah
00:39:55
so it just seemed like the sensible
00:39:56
thing to do just move into yeah well
00:39:57
Jane was uh Gene was living at uh at
00:40:02
Pine Sol in the village and I still had
00:40:04
the house in La Vita in Mount Albert and
00:40:09
I sold the house and
00:40:13
and
00:40:15
went to live at panzero yeah how's how's
00:40:18
Jane now how old is Shane how's her
00:40:20
health no she's quite young yeah she's
00:40:22
only 90.
00:40:24
you're like the younger woman eh crazy
00:40:28
uh what hobbies or activities have
00:40:30
brought you the most Joy through your
00:40:31
life
00:40:32
oh this is easy Bridge right
00:40:34
Bridge all day
00:40:37
oh yes I I mean it's an absolutely you
00:40:41
know fantastic game really and uh no
00:40:44
matter how good you are you can always
00:40:45
improve and and it doesn't matter how
00:40:49
old you are or how what size you are or
00:40:53
what gender or what race you can play
00:40:56
and I mean you only need 52 pieces of
00:41:01
cardboard and you're away but of course
00:41:04
it's a bridge now of course it's more
00:41:06
sophisticated electronically which makes
00:41:09
it easier and but it's you know
00:41:12
incredible game how much do you play now
00:41:14
oh I just I don't I don't play often at
00:41:18
night now but I play every Monday and
00:41:21
Wednesday at the club and then I play
00:41:25
in uh
00:41:27
at night online right on a Monday anyway
00:41:30
you just said a second ago you don't
00:41:31
play much now that's it's like a lot of
00:41:33
problems
00:41:34
every day of the week wow and what an um
00:41:38
so that question was what hobbies or
00:41:39
activities that brought you the most Joy
00:41:41
through your life what about earlier on
00:41:42
can you remember what sort of hobbies
00:41:44
and activities as a kid what are you
00:41:45
into uh
00:41:47
I've always done a lot of work a lot of
00:41:50
research on genealogy and that's on to
00:41:52
five different families and I spent a
00:41:55
lot a lot of time on that and a lot of
00:41:58
that was done before you could do much
00:42:02
research electronically now it's
00:42:05
probably a bit easier
00:42:07
and I've always been keen on photography
00:42:10
and that sort of thing yeah
00:42:12
and I have and I've always
00:42:16
been keen on literature and poetry and
00:42:18
that sort of thing yeah nice how have
00:42:21
your values and beliefs evolved over the
00:42:23
years
00:42:27
I had to say yeah I've never even
00:42:30
thought about it yeah
00:42:33
it's the problem with um the the
00:42:35
generation now we overthink things
00:42:40
you're sitting in front of me you just
00:42:42
seemed like like a lot of these
00:42:44
questions which people sent in like it's
00:42:46
like you're just sort of like batting
00:42:47
them off like it's almost like they're
00:42:49
over overthinking things and you just
00:42:51
like get up and do it yeah
00:42:54
um is that this might be another one of
00:42:56
those questions is there a particular
00:42:57
piece of wisdom or philosophy that has
00:42:59
guided your life
00:43:02
uh
00:43:06
oh I I think uh we talked about that
00:43:09
using it difficulty didn't we have we
00:43:12
done that on here yeah we talked about
00:43:14
um Michael Kane yeah yes you've done
00:43:16
that well I think that's a very uh
00:43:19
important uh philosophy to to uh to have
00:43:23
really that there's always in my
00:43:25
situation might appear very bad but
00:43:28
there could be uh good could emerge from
00:43:32
it um
00:43:34
yes for you how does the the pandemic is
00:43:37
the biggest thing that you know most
00:43:39
people I suppose my age and younger have
00:43:41
gone through
00:43:42
um how did the pandemic um compared to
00:43:44
all the other things you've been through
00:43:45
in your life Spanish Flu the depression
00:43:48
uh World War II I wasn't alive with the
00:43:52
Spanish when was the Spanish Flu no it
00:43:54
was about 1919 I think right yeah sorry
00:43:55
I'm sorry I'm aging you here yeah oh
00:43:58
minus three years
00:44:02
the pandemic I mean there's nothing much
00:44:05
you can do you can take precaution but
00:44:07
there's nothing much you can do so
00:44:08
there's no use worrying about it and I
00:44:10
mean I got covered naturally and I was
00:44:12
uh fairly cooked for a couple of days
00:44:15
but then since then I've been you know
00:44:16
okay
00:44:18
God nothing bothers you does it not
00:44:20
really yeah no not to any great extent
00:44:23
yeah what what what does get you wound
00:44:26
up these days what gets you in your
00:44:28
nervous or anxious or mad
00:44:31
uh I I don't think I get like that yeah
00:44:34
have you always been this way or does
00:44:35
that come with um age and wisdom oh I
00:44:37
think I think I've always been fairly uh
00:44:39
measured I'm a bit of an introvert
00:44:41
probably and so pretty quiet yeah uh
00:44:45
what are your hopes and dreams for
00:44:46
future Generations
00:44:51
oh well I suppose it's the same with
00:44:54
anybody and you just hope they'll people
00:44:56
will the society will will be a nice
00:45:00
place to live and they'll grow up into
00:45:01
uh
00:45:02
you know good human beings yeah yeah
00:45:06
uh what were some of the most
00:45:08
challenging obstacles you faced
00:45:09
throughout your life and how did you
00:45:10
overcome them
00:45:14
uh
00:45:16
I remember when
00:45:18
I was
00:45:20
I'll just be about
00:45:22
19 uh let's say
00:45:25
no twenty thousand four and uh I was
00:45:30
buttering Gene's toast in the morning
00:45:33
she was still in bed of course and which
00:45:36
is unlikely actually and all of a sudden
00:45:40
my left arm uh stopped stopped
00:45:43
functioning
00:45:44
so you you were a bad 80 at the time
00:45:47
yes yeah and then right I
00:45:52
uh I I left down was just hanging by the
00:45:56
side and then after 20 minutes it was uh
00:45:59
100 again so I finished buttering the
00:46:01
toast
00:46:03
and so that afternoon I went to see my
00:46:06
GP and he said oh something you know
00:46:08
wrong I'm not sure what he said you
00:46:09
haven't had a stroke but you know
00:46:11
something's there so I went through all
00:46:12
the tests and that sort of thing and uh
00:46:15
and I went back to see the the uh the uh
00:46:19
guy the medical guy and uh he said I've
00:46:23
got uh good news and bad news and I said
00:46:26
well tell me the good news first and he
00:46:28
said oh there's nothing wrong with the
00:46:29
brain it's just as good as it's ever
00:46:31
been
00:46:32
I'm not sure how good it was and he said
00:46:35
but have a look at the screen and he
00:46:37
showed me the screen there was a thing
00:46:38
about the size of a small golf ball the
00:46:41
back in the back of my head and
00:46:44
he said it's a probably a meningioma and
00:46:48
he said that's the sort of uh
00:46:50
tumor I would have if I if I had the
00:46:54
choice and he said I can take it out in
00:46:57
July so he
00:46:59
I said well I'd like her taking out
00:47:02
before then so I said but I can't I've
00:47:06
got to go down to play in a bowls
00:47:08
tournament in Dunedin before that so I
00:47:11
went and he said oh well I'll take him
00:47:13
I'll take it out after that so he did
00:47:15
and I went into the hospital I think he
00:47:18
took it out on a Wednesday
00:47:19
and then I and then they uh and that for
00:47:24
that they all they do is to you know cut
00:47:28
the top off your head and and take it
00:47:30
take out the tumor then and then staple
00:47:33
them back on again and uh
00:47:37
so uh I I went home on a Saturday and
00:47:41
then on the Monday I went back and
00:47:44
played bridge but I didn't feel 100 but
00:47:48
then from that time on it's never
00:47:50
bothered me and uh I remember my sister
00:47:52
my now my daughter said well can you
00:47:55
bring the uh uh the tumor home as a
00:47:59
souvenir and so I asked the doc about
00:48:01
that he's on I can't do that he's just
00:48:03
got to go to the uh biopsies yeah the
00:48:07
biopsy land yeah and uh but he said what
00:48:09
I'll do is I'll take my camera in and
00:48:12
I'll take a camera of your brain and the
00:48:14
two men you can have that and so I've
00:48:16
still got that I've got all that in
00:48:18
Technicolor
00:48:20
you know I've noticed you've got um
00:48:22
you've got quite a few scars on your on
00:48:23
your forehead what's what's that from
00:48:25
what's
00:48:26
uh I had a sort of a
00:48:31
uh a skin cancer there and it's and
00:48:34
never so a few months ago but it's it's
00:48:38
okay now yeah and you you mentioned on
00:48:41
the car right here you're not exercising
00:48:42
at the moment because you had like a
00:48:43
growth taken out on your that's right on
00:48:45
my leg Yeah Yeah Yeah but that that's
00:48:48
been resolved yeah have you always been
00:48:52
quite good New Zealand men are typically
00:48:54
um a bit slow at uh you know getting
00:48:56
medical treatment or you're talking
00:48:59
about health yeah I'm probably typical
00:49:00
yeah yeah really really yeah yeah
00:49:05
I would have thought you would have been
00:49:07
super diligent no not really no no
00:49:11
so well what I'm I was hoping to like
00:49:13
sort of pick your brains to see how any
00:49:15
one of us could could get to 100 and
00:49:16
still be as fit and healthy and vital
00:49:19
and vibrant as what you are but it's
00:49:21
this does seem like there's a bit of
00:49:23
luck involved oh absolutely yeah yeah
00:49:25
absolutely yeah I mean when you consider
00:49:28
my two grandfathers died at 57
00:49:32
and so you know I've lasted a bit longer
00:49:34
than that is there longevity in your
00:49:36
family at all on my mother's side yeah
00:49:38
yeah like what anyone else made it to
00:49:40
100
00:49:41
no no no
00:49:43
my my
00:49:46
I think my eldest cousin she died at 97.
00:49:49
um
00:49:50
and I know my great grandfather he I
00:49:52
think was a great grandfather he uh
00:49:55
immigrated and uh and he landed in New
00:49:58
Zealand in uh 1860 and I think he was
00:50:02
85 or 86 when it when he came and with
00:50:06
his family and and uh and grandchildren
00:50:10
yeah yeah that wouldn't have been an
00:50:11
easy trap especially at that age yeah
00:50:14
well I think he he lies until he was in
00:50:17
uh about 94.
00:50:20
yeah that's an interesting thing isn't
00:50:22
it the the just the transportation
00:50:23
changes that you've seen in your
00:50:24
lifetime like we've gone from ships to
00:50:26
Aviation absolutely yeah can you
00:50:29
remember the first time you saw a plane
00:50:30
or went on a plane
00:50:33
uh let's say
00:50:37
I don't I think the first plane I was on
00:50:40
was on a flying back from
00:50:43
flying from Auckland uh to Melbourne
00:50:46
that's what we talked about this in the
00:50:49
podcast last year so
00:50:51
um like a c plane I've been on a
00:50:52
seaplane before like to go to one of the
00:50:54
islands in Fiji but this is like a big
00:50:55
one for an international flight and you
00:50:57
yeah that's right
00:50:59
um you were you were a good runner and
00:51:01
you you could have stayed back in New
00:51:02
Zealand and trained hard and maybe
00:51:03
qualified for the what was the known as
00:51:05
the Empire games no let me finish but
00:51:08
instead you went to Melbourne on a
00:51:09
seaplane to chase a girl
00:51:12
yeah well actually I I wasn't in the
00:51:16
shape to uh to be uh going for a place
00:51:20
in the in the games I I I I I I was only
00:51:24
sort of a part-time Runner then I
00:51:26
usually played tennis in the summer and
00:51:29
and then ran cross country in the winter
00:51:31
so I wasn't really up after that but yes
00:51:35
I did there was a girl involved yeah and
00:51:38
she didn't come back with you you didn't
00:51:40
get the girl
00:51:41
no but I think that might have been a
00:51:45
a a good result yeah absolutely what
00:51:47
were you what were you doing then were
00:51:49
you a were you a school teacher at that
00:51:50
stage I was always a school teacher yeah
00:51:52
yeah so I can imagine those flights
00:51:53
would have been cheap that would have
00:51:55
been it would cost you like weeks wages
00:51:56
I'd imagine
00:51:57
I haven't got the faintish time yeah
00:51:59
never thought about it
00:52:00
yeah well can you remember much anything
00:52:03
about their flight that must have been
00:52:04
like terrifying for the first time going
00:52:06
in a no no no
00:52:09
you know without a hedge yeah
00:52:12
and can you remember the first yeah the
00:52:14
first time you got to ride in a car
00:52:18
oh yeah the first time as a car would be
00:52:22
going to uh going from uh Mornington and
00:52:26
Dunedin to Ocean View and Brighton uh
00:52:29
for a holiday was my great uncle yeah
00:52:32
yeah it was was he was he rich like I'm
00:52:36
guessing the cars
00:52:37
and this is a care of a friend of ours
00:52:41
right we didn't we never had a car you
00:52:44
just didn't have the money I'm guessing
00:52:45
it was just nobody had cars like there
00:52:48
were two uh people with cars on our
00:52:50
street and they were both plumbers
00:52:52
and like and when I went to uh College
00:52:56
in 1946
00:53:00
there were only two two of the lecturers
00:53:03
had cars nobody else had a car
00:53:06
isn't that amazing yeah what was your
00:53:08
first car can you remember yes yeah it
00:53:10
would be uh
00:53:12
1928 Oakland
00:53:15
well I'll have to look that up I don't
00:53:16
know what an Oakland does well it was a
00:53:20
bit like uh
00:53:22
a
00:53:25
bit like a Model A Ford oh okay yeah wow
00:53:28
actually I only owned half of it
00:53:31
my younger brother he had the other half
00:53:35
we used to share it yeah and what about
00:53:37
what was the last car you owned
00:53:39
oh it would be the emergency extreme
00:53:42
yeah yeah and you so you decided not to
00:53:44
renew your license when you turned 100.
00:53:46
when was the last time you you drove a
00:53:48
vehicle uh the uh
00:53:51
almost a couple of years ago yeah yeah
00:53:53
late 90s
00:53:56
just the changes you've seen in
00:53:58
transport over your lifetime that's
00:53:59
incredible it's remarkable what a treat
00:54:01
how has your perspective on life and
00:54:04
aging evolved as you reached this
00:54:05
remarkable age
00:54:08
oh well I've never sort of thought about
00:54:11
aging or anything like that I've just
00:54:12
sort of carried on doing what I normally
00:54:14
do yeah
00:54:16
do you think the elderly get the um the
00:54:18
respect or the fear treatment they
00:54:19
deserve in New Zealand or are they sort
00:54:21
of like invisible to society in a lot of
00:54:22
ways no depends
00:54:26
you know who they are associated with
00:54:29
yeah oh that's good then so you haven't
00:54:31
noticed anyone treating you any any
00:54:33
differently because of you
00:54:35
I noticed that uh you know when they
00:54:38
find out how old you are they
00:54:42
sat to you know treat you a bit
00:54:44
differently but for the better I guess
00:54:46
oh yeah yeah
00:54:50
um does thinking does someone ask the
00:54:52
question does thinking about dying make
00:54:54
you sad
00:54:55
not at all no no I mean
00:54:58
I mean it's just part of life isn't it
00:55:00
really that's the trade-off isn't it
00:55:02
it's something that we all have to have
00:55:03
to go through Jesus you must have
00:55:07
I'm just thinking like my situation like
00:55:10
off um I'm 50 now both my parents are
00:55:12
still alive um the only sort of grief
00:55:14
I've had to deal with is the death of a
00:55:15
couple of friends you know one through
00:55:16
cancer one through suicide and the death
00:55:18
of grandparents
00:55:20
um but just thinking about the grief
00:55:22
that I've got coming up in my future and
00:55:24
how hard that's going to be is um it's
00:55:26
it's quite daunting it's a lot to Bear
00:55:28
but I'm you you must have dealt with so
00:55:30
much grief in your lifetime
00:55:32
I've never thought about it I mean if it
00:55:35
happens well then you've got to deal
00:55:36
with it then
00:55:38
you guys got a lot of funerals these
00:55:40
days yeah but you must go to a lot of
00:55:42
funerals these days oh well Gene and I
00:55:46
are not great on going to funerals
00:55:47
though we we've been to you know into uh
00:55:52
Bill Bailey's Murray hillberg and that
00:55:54
sort of thing but normally we don't go
00:55:56
to funerals yeah oh yeah he passed away
00:55:58
last year uh were you did you have much
00:56:01
to do with Murray Helberg
00:56:02
uh well we're in the same Club but we're
00:56:05
never that close yeah
00:56:09
um incredible man and incredible Runner
00:56:12
the incredible athlete because he had
00:56:13
like um uh what was he he had like a
00:56:17
disability it had been the power games
00:56:19
now if he was alive wouldn't he uh
00:56:24
a rugby accident right so he had like an
00:56:27
arm that didn't function properly yeah
00:56:29
incredible
00:56:31
um what happens when you when we die
00:56:34
who me yeah someone wants to ask ask
00:56:37
what you think happens when we die
00:56:40
are you a spiritual man
00:56:42
uh it depends what you mean by spiritual
00:56:45
oh
00:56:47
oh well when you when your brain doesn't
00:56:51
function and that's it well you know
00:56:53
that's that's nothing much I wouldn't do
00:56:56
you don't think there's like a heaven or
00:56:59
an afterlife or
00:57:04
no I don't think so no I mean
00:57:07
people used to think you know heaven was
00:57:09
up here and all this sort of thing but I
00:57:10
mean that sort of concept you know it's
00:57:13
got out the window really so you think
00:57:16
the the humans are just like a computer
00:57:17
and you know once the computer's
00:57:19
switched off that's it oh I don't think
00:57:22
they're any I don't think they're any
00:57:24
different from any anybody else in the
00:57:27
animal species
00:57:29
I love you you're so pragmatic pragmatic
00:57:32
you're great
00:57:33
um what are you going to miss the most
00:57:34
when your life ends
00:57:37
well you won't be in a position
00:57:46
from the from the position of someone
00:57:48
that's um living a good and full life
00:57:50
now so you you must Bridge you Miss Jane
00:57:55
no but you won't be in a position to to
00:57:58
miss anything yeah that's true that's
00:58:01
true but when I was you know talked
00:58:03
about that uh the log and all that sort
00:58:05
of thing I mean uh
00:58:07
different people have got different
00:58:09
ideas and that and I respect that I mean
00:58:12
this it's a you know it's a there's all
00:58:16
different ways of thinking and
00:58:18
everybody's got their own uh perspective
00:58:19
yeah
00:58:22
do you have any regrets
00:58:27
no I don't think so yeah no if you could
00:58:29
live your life over you wouldn't do
00:58:30
anything different
00:58:32
oh yeah you might but I mean it's uh a
00:58:36
lot of things that happened to you it's
00:58:37
it's something that you can't do
00:58:39
anything about yeah yeah
00:58:41
you um
00:58:43
oh something I forgot to mention you
00:58:46
um so you were a working teacher and
00:58:48
principal throughout your whole career
00:58:49
you never made a scent
00:58:51
through Athletics right
00:58:54
oh it happens though no I was a an
00:58:57
amateur coach and I remember
00:58:59
my first wife Jean saying that if if I
00:59:04
had if I hadn't been coaching I would
00:59:06
have had uh we would have had enough to
00:59:09
cash to buy another house well because
00:59:12
of the sacrifices you had to make in
00:59:14
order to coach yeah but I never thought
00:59:16
about it yeah that um I I'm going to ask
00:59:19
this but I know I know the the answer to
00:59:21
the question already does it kind of
00:59:22
annoy you now that you know if you were
00:59:24
a coach you're right here right now
00:59:26
you'd be making a lot of money for
00:59:28
coaching at the level no not at all yeah
00:59:30
yeah
00:59:32
in those days I mean and of course
00:59:35
nowadays too I mean the
00:59:38
sport would probably perish if it wasn't
00:59:41
for all the uh amateur coaches unpaid
00:59:44
coaches yeah and and that and that's
00:59:46
probably the the case was just about
00:59:48
every sport
00:59:50
um
00:59:51
and you were telling me on the car right
00:59:52
here you caught up with uh John Walker
00:59:54
just yesterday oh yes yeah yeah you're
00:59:57
still quite close oh yes yeah we we meet
01:00:00
uh regularly with a few of our old
01:00:02
buddies what's regularly like every few
01:00:05
months twice a year yeah probably we'll
01:00:08
probably medium
01:00:09
and about about three months or so yeah
01:00:12
how was he so he's in his 70s now but
01:00:14
he's got um Parkinson's disease yeah
01:00:17
yeah he's doing all right yeah what do
01:00:20
you guys talk about when you catch up
01:00:22
oh we don't talk about the old days you
01:00:24
don't no no we just talk about what's
01:00:27
happening now really when was the when
01:00:30
was you think the last time you and John
01:00:31
Walker got together and reflected on
01:00:32
like that gold medal performance in 76.
01:00:37
when do you think the last time was that
01:00:39
you and John got together and like
01:00:40
reminisced or reflected on that gold
01:00:42
medal performance I don't think we've
01:00:43
ever done that
01:00:48
that's amazing and um how would you like
01:00:50
to be remembered
01:00:53
wouldn't worry me
01:00:55
no it's it's nothing to do with me I I I
01:01:02
mean you know
01:01:04
there's no answer there I mean I've
01:01:07
gotten no preference really
01:01:09
um
01:01:10
God it's been a great life
01:01:12
and it's still going
01:01:14
what's the oldest um who's the oldest
01:01:16
New Zealander ever have you got any idea
01:01:19
what is it like 107 108
01:01:22
oh I know I know who's a third oldest
01:01:24
New Zealand is is that you no no no no I
01:01:27
don't know nowhere near no Lloyd gearing
01:01:29
how old's Lloyd
01:01:31
105 right yeah yeah
01:01:34
do you see I thought you're gonna be
01:01:35
around for a while yet aren't you
01:01:36
actually oh I might be yeah who knows
01:01:40
yeah what about music these days what do
01:01:42
you like to listen you listen to music
01:01:43
much not not a great deal no uh not a
01:01:47
great deal
01:01:47
[Music]
01:01:48
um
01:01:49
but I'm Keener on musicals and that sort
01:01:52
of thing yeah rather than operating like
01:01:55
that yeah so what does an average day
01:01:57
look like for you you wake up um quite
01:02:00
leisurely like around 8 A.M about that
01:02:02
and then what you get up
01:02:03
oh yeah we we have breakfast and there's
01:02:06
a lot again
01:02:07
have coffee later on sometimes go up and
01:02:09
meet a few of the guys at the cafe and
01:02:11
that sort of thing Cafe on the grounds
01:02:13
of the Retirement Village yeah yeah it's
01:02:16
a great setup you got there by the way
01:02:17
yeah it's not bad yeah
01:02:20
and then so that's like sort of
01:02:22
mid-morning lunchtime
01:02:24
yeah
01:02:25
I mean home for lunch home for a nap oh
01:02:29
well no never never have a nap yeah no I
01:02:32
haven't got time for that
01:02:35
and then the afternoon how does that
01:02:37
look oh well two afternoons I go and
01:02:40
play bridge yeah yeah
01:02:43
and then uh the chase at 5 p.m oh
01:02:46
usually yeah
01:02:48
I do a lot of work on the computer do
01:02:51
you know what sort of work oh you know
01:02:54
it's it's hard to do with Bridgewater to
01:02:56
do with geniality or something like that
01:02:58
um
01:02:59
well that seems to be the key here isn't
01:03:01
it just keeping yourself active keeping
01:03:03
you keeping your mind and your body busy
01:03:05
yeah I like to have a sort of a project
01:03:07
going on yeah
01:03:09
so was it um am I having Gene that told
01:03:12
me um that during the pandemic you
01:03:14
ordered in like a a stationary bike and
01:03:17
you assembled it yourself
01:03:19
oh yes I thought it'd be all ready to go
01:03:21
but when it when it arrived it was in 80
01:03:24
different parts and it took me two days
01:03:28
to assemble it because the directions
01:03:30
were weren't very good and I had to sort
01:03:34
of assemble then unassemble bits and but
01:03:36
I finally got it got it going yeah
01:03:39
that's amazing and then um and your
01:03:41
evening what does the evening look like
01:03:42
you just you watch um the chase you
01:03:44
watch the news you watch TV yeah
01:03:48
one or two things we watch on TV but uh
01:03:51
we're not watching it every now yeah and
01:03:54
then what sort of time do you go to bed
01:03:55
oh I'm not a
01:04:00
huge between 10 and 11. a bit of a night
01:04:03
owl yeah yeah wow well thank you very
01:04:07
much for these insights today
01:04:10
um oh how was it last year when you when
01:04:12
you turn 100 you get the um the telegram
01:04:13
from the royal family it was still the
01:04:15
queen that was alive so you don't get
01:04:16
telegrams yeah what is that like a card
01:04:19
yeah you get a card yeah yeah so um how
01:04:23
was that I know we talked about this in
01:04:24
the podcast last year you weren't much
01:04:26
excited about it uh when it came was it
01:04:28
was it quite an exciting thing or oh it
01:04:31
was quite nice to get to get the cards
01:04:34
and the queen yes it was yeah
01:04:37
yeah oh so it's just a like a green just
01:04:39
a card okay and what is what does it say
01:04:42
oh it's just good it's I can't recall
01:04:45
the exact words but it's just ordinary
01:04:47
but it's uh you know it's got her photo
01:04:49
and all that sort of thing which is
01:04:50
rather nice to have yeah
01:04:53
I don't want to say beeping noise
01:04:55
is that your watch
01:04:59
oh well yeah that means it's 12 o'clock
01:05:02
oh what is it what does 12 o'clock mean
01:05:05
well I don't know it just comes up and
01:05:07
and says snooze
01:05:10
but uh I haven't been able to undo that
01:05:13
yeah so the um yeah so the telegram the
01:05:15
the card from the queen you went much
01:05:17
excited about that because as you rather
01:05:19
nice together yeah because you as I mean
01:05:21
you did you pointed this out to me last
01:05:22
year and rightfully so like she's not
01:05:24
sitting in a room writing them all it's
01:05:26
uh but have you got it on display
01:05:28
somewhere or oh yeah yeah yeah would you
01:05:32
have rather have got one from the queen
01:05:34
or the king
01:05:36
uh rather than us to get one from the
01:05:38
queen yeah
01:05:40
all right I Archibald Arch jelly one of
01:05:44
New Zealand's finest running coaches
01:05:45
ever and just a just a good New
01:05:47
Zealander um thank you so much for your
01:05:49
insights today
01:05:50
um it's been a life well spent and I I
01:05:53
I've got a lot out of this conversation
01:05:55
I hope a lot of other people do too just
01:05:57
by tapping into the wisdom of just like
01:05:59
a just a good kind solid New Zealander
01:06:02
thank you so much for coming over today
01:06:05
really appreciate it see you again this
01:06:07
time next year hope so
01:06:11
[Music]
