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The Mad Butcher - Racism Controversy, Near Death Experience, Warriors & Kiwis Legacy

October 01, 202301:18:10
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sir Peter Lee hello welcome to my
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podcast nice to be here been a long time
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since we've caught up it's good to see
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you looking so well and life must be
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going good for you thank you yeah the
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podcast is going um very well I launched
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it about 15 16 months ago and it's sort
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of gone from strength to strength I've
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been I've been badgering you to come on
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and I apologize for that but I wore you
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down didn't I well no you never wore me
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down but you I seen a a a a a message or
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something where a whole lot of people
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said you said who should I get on yeah
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and there was David T mentioned and
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several people mentioned but I got more
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I got more
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likes Mad Butcher than anyone else well
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no I better stop doing if they want to
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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
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you on even before that post went up
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just because um you're such an awesome
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New Zealander and I feel like you don't
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necessarily get enough pra for all the
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stuff that you do you're so alteristic
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no I do mate I'm very humbled by the
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amount of people that comment to me and
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thank me for what I've done and that it
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can be very embarrassing at times and uh
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no and and you don't do it for
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acknowledgement you do it because in my
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case I just love sharing the love that's
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what I do and uh I done it the other day
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I met an American couple at the fery
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building at Half Moon Bay and they were
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coming to Y hickey not in the car just
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coming over and uh got talking and they
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said I said where you from in amer com
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for you I said oh you must be Mormons oh
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yes we're Mormons you know and uh we got
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really good and they were lovely couple
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and you know the nice thing about them
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and I said this to them the other day I
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said the good thing is you didn't try to
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convert
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me no but I mean that sincerely you know
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I mean that sincerely oh yeah they
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didn't try and RAM it down your throat
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yeah exactly uh J imagine imagine the
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surprise that they would have got when
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they left you and they they Googled you
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and they're like oh this guy's proper
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failers no she was she Googled before
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that happened because everywhere we went
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people were talking to me on the FY
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everyone hello but she Googled me and uh
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yeah she was but they're a lovely couple
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and that's what you do in life you try
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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
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that sort of thing I showed two guys
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around uh if you look at my Facebook
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page it's a sir Mad Butcher no sir Peter
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Charles leech you'll see I showed two
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guys around my uh man cave today and
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they loved it mate what's in your manave
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is it just League memorabilia it's a
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little bit of the Liverpool soccer team
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bit of all black stuff you know but
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mainly rugby league and they were they
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were big rugby league fans massive rugby
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league fans yeah um the first thing I
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wanted to know is um uh who is s leech
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and who is the Mad Butcher and how are
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they
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different they're one or the other
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they're both the same what you see is
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what you get yeah you know but does it s
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of start as like a
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character or like a caricature of
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yourself in a way like an exaggerated
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version started there was a guy b a
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staff on radio Pacific and he used to
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have a sports show and he used to drink
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a bottle of vodka a night and one night
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he bagged my club mangry East that I was
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a sponsor of and I rang him up and ning
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him gambling with him like having bets
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on the games and one day I I thought
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well if I stop gaming I could you know
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advertise and the guy walked in he used
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to always do business in the worry trust
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hotel and the private but and the guy
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walk passing the there if and Mad
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Butcher and I said that will do us Tim
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said oh you can't use you know the f
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word but we started off Rosella meets
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the home of the Mad Butcher then another
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famous broadcasting man called Gordon
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Dryden told me you need one name so then
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I just went with Mad Butcher and that
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was people used to want to come out to
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the butcher shop and see the city is on
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the radio you know so okay so so yes so
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The Moldy fell that um coined the phice
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the Mad Butcher what what did you why
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did people think you were mad you just
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full full of full of energy or I don't
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know M I've never asked him and to be
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fren to be he's never come back to me
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for royalties
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either no but but like were you were you
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mad or was was it just like the the way
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you interacted with customers oh just
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what was M about you just what the way
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the way I was a bit of an idiot you know
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cuz Monty beam one of the one of the
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most famous um gez we're jumping all
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over the place here we we I was hoping
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to go in some sort of sequence but we
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might bounce around a bit but um your
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Monty beam he tells a story about going
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into your store when he was like 4 years
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old or something um and you you were you
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were kind of mad he like who is this guy
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yeah so and he wanted to punch me
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because he thought when he was four he
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had taken out he in he said he said uh
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he's told the story many times uh he
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thought I was being disrespectful to his
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mother well what did you do I I used
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always have the customers on you know
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that's why they come and I made them
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feel happy welcome you know what I mean
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and um he's a beautiful person Monty
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beautiful person blessed to met him to
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be here yeah absolutely yeah isn't it
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funny though that he was a customer and
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he remembers you would you wouldn't
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remember him from when he was four I
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wouldn't imagine but he remembers you
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and then um and then with your
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association with the team and and his um
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association with the team it's real full
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circle the other thing Dom you must
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remember I'm a big boxing fan me and my
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wife love boxing and his dad was a great
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boxer uh Monty Monty Bean senior and a
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great man used to come in the shop and
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we used to talk a bit of boxing and that
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sort of thing one of the uh Prides I
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have I have a photo from M Muhammad Ali
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signed to me personally when he was
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there here from uh to do a speech many
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years ago wow yeah oh that's amazing
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I've got a signed Muhammad Ali boxing
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glove just out there but it's um not
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signed to me personally no I thought it
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was pretty special but then I saw a
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photo of him in a room with like a
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thousand of these same gloves signing
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them all so
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um there there's um something that
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you've sort of um I don't know go I
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guess going viral is the term like
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recently your Facebook post I they bring
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me so much joy whenever there's a new
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post from the Mad Butcher and it's you
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sharing what you're eating I [ __ ]
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love it man it is so good what where did
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that start I just started doing it you
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know I got uh
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39,000 on Facebook now like I'm 79 so
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that's quite a good number that
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Facebook's uh sir Peter Charles leech if
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you want to follow me did did did it
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just sort of explode when you started
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doing the food I don't know mate yeah I
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truly don't know it just you know it
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just happened and uh everywhere I go
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people what happened for breakfast
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toight
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and I never post if I don't like it if
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you don't like the food me me and Lance
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went to a place the other day for
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breakfast uh Lance is my good mate on
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Mikey Island we went to K par Cafe and
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uh we had a great breakfast but in
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particularly the sausages were
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outstanding like Lance didn't have the
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big breakfast head the bacon an XG and I
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was going to give him one of the
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sausages but in the end I only gave him
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a little quarter of the sausage you know
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yeah but if I don't like it I don't post
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so I only believe in positivity not
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negativity I don't believe in negative
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there's too much negativity in the world
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we got to believe in positivity like me
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I'm 79 I'm grateful to be alive every
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day is a bonus you know yeah yeah you
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got such a good attitude I love that and
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I I couldn't agree more um the the the
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food post I I love it and when when you
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read the caption you can't help but you
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know hear your voice in your head like
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light light snack this morning yeah
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Janice Jenice gave me eight webs with
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the tint Peaches on
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top I had a like breakfast today
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actually I love that you you s like
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breakfast and most people are like
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that's a substantial meal you love your
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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
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also [ __ ] a
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lot I
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have I have a problem I'm going to the
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doctor do you what what's the is it a
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like a prostate issue no no no no with
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they [ __ ] in I [ __ ] all the time well
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you eat all the time yeah yeah um so
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what does an average day look like now
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you're still obsessed with idale Farm
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you still love Imad Farm not as much now
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I I did for many years and funny enough
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a lovely a guy went to England and saw a
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mug idal farm and he brought it back to
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me and gave it to me which was a lovely
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gesture you know I didn't have the heart
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to tell him I wasn't watching idal all
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the time cuz you used to be obsessed
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like you'd go away on holiday for a
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couple of weeks and you'd record all of
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them on V for three months one time come
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back and miss it but I went to the set
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several times you know um lovely people
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and uh it was a good program funny
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enough I watched this episode yesterday
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yeah yeah just for a change so what what
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does an average day look like now oh
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could be anything just doing nothing
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could be catching up with Lance or yeah
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by the way Lance who you've referenced a
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few times he's um sitting in the room at
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the moment you bought him over good
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Lance my body G that's a
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joke my body G um no look it could be
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anything mate uh in the better weather
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we could go for a kite me and a couple
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of other mates on the island
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um do nothing might go to the movies
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there's no pattern there's no rhythm
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it's just let's see what happens and see
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what sort of mood Janice is in because
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you have to be aware of you know looking
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after her as well yeah yeah um yeah you
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mentioned kaying before you do you you
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and grahe Henry S grah Henry still go
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kak cuz Graham is very active still very
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active like uh just the other day him
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and his wife were in Queenstown and he's
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still doing quite a bit of speaking and
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that whereas I've retired from that sort
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of thing how old is he is he similar age
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to you a bit youer know don't know
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lovely lovely people yeah yeah him and
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his lovely wife R beautiful lady yeah
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all right yeah um okay let's go back to
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the early years so um you're born in
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Wellington yeah big family right one of
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seven religious family Catholics no no
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Protestant
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yeah youngest I was the youngest of
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seven they're all dead now to be fair um
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yeah it's a bit sad really the whole
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family are dead I'm the last of the
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mohigans one would say and I brought up
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in a good workingclass family in New
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Town by the zoo up by the zoo and uh
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went to New Town School South Wellington
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intermediate Wellington Tech you know
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just and left Wellington with a mate
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called
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Colin can't remember other name now yeah
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never went back everyone said I'd be
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back within a month and he wouldn't go
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back and it was vice versa yeah and and
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you were you were I mean everything's
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got a label these days um but you were
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dyslexia so I'm guessing when you were
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going through school like in the in the
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1940s 1950s that they just thought you
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were dumb or th yeah no question yeah
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and I am dumb I don't know me of better
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times tables no no no no no but no I
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think but I think there's difference I'd
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agree with you like like in terms of
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school stuff like I used to get terrible
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anxiety with exams so I was [ __ ] Dum
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and by school standards but I think
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there I didn't know ex sense I I didn't
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know what to go on um I think there's
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difference between having having smarts
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and Common Sense which you've got in in
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Spades and I I was just lucky that I I
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had verbal diarrhea I talked to
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everybody and now you just got diarrhea
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it seems yeah exactly that's fair
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comment um but you know I I I and I I
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listen to people you know I do talk a
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lot but I also listen M and uh I've been
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very blessed during my journey in life
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that we we've come through but not
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without some pain there been pain
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there's no gain without pain simple as
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that pain in terms of like what just the
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stress of running your own business or I
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first started the business I was working
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three jobs you know I was cleaning
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boning meat and then running the little
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butcher shop during the day you know so
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you know never saw the kids oh I did I
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went home and I kiss just some good
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night they'd be in bed you know and you
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know that's always played on my mind but
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they reckon it it never affected them
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but it's certainly you know
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yeah oh really so you look you look back
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on that with I mean they're they're all
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middle-aged now right you your kids yeah
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one 50 something or something they're
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all thriving all doing very well for
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themselves you used to got regrets about
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that do you like being sort of ABS when
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they were younger yeah look I I missed
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out on some stuff like you know taking
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them to school my granddaughter who's 2
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I think it is she lives in Amsterdam
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Kristen I used to take her to school and
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that I us to right thrill out of it and
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I always remember one day I'm in a
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important meeting the guy flown up from
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Wellington to see me and she rings and
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the reception is new always put it
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through to
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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
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and take me yes daring I'll be home in
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half an hour I said the BL look I'm
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sorry mate something's personally come
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up in the family and I have to leave now
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but I'll tell you what I'll do I will
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fly for you to come back up from
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Wellington at my expense and I'll take
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you out to any restaurant you want to go
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to when he did come he picked sales
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restaurant he' heard about it you know
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and um I left and when he went there on
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reception he started to winge to the
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receptionist which I can understand and
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she just said to
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him if he was to hear what you were
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saying oh she said do we spend much
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money with your company he said well
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you're one of our big his clients M she
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said well if he was to hear that you
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would never do another thing with this
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company yeah and he went white he oh oh
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she said I'm not going to tell him but
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let me tell you so when we went out for
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lunch I mention that to him and he need
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PE his pants and I said I could
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understand but I said you got and I told
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him the story about how you know
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granddaughter was special to me they
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accept the that and then yeah yeah I
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think I think that's a a lot of people
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probably say the same thing I think
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that's the right of pack passage right
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you have your own kids and you're busy
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setting up your own um you know
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businesses or your own life or providing
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for your kids the best you can and then
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when you have grandkids you got a bit
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more time on the hands I think that's
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just the circle of life and the other
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thing is you can't turn the clock back I
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mean they they wouldn't have had the uh
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the perks of my hard work if I it's a
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trade-off isn't it yeah it is a
00:14:21
trade-off so um dyslexia at a young age
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um you always said that entrepreneurial
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Spirit though right I I heard I think I
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heard a story about you like buying
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buying merch in town and then going to a
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going to sports games and selling it for
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triple the
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price is that it's a bit of an
00:14:36
exaggeration I used to go and sell
00:14:38
cushions at the rugby and things like
00:14:40
that but no I wouldn't set an Enterprise
00:14:42
you know yeah I just that's in that's
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entrepreneurial I was good at selling I
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was good at selling meat
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right yeah um and were you were you mad
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or trouble as a kid no what was young
00:14:55
Peter like a shy guy right I actually
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got my confidence in Oakland when I come
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to Oakland cuz being the what the
00:15:03
youngest of seven children you know I
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don't like to say it but you know you
00:15:09
can be a little bit spoiled at times the
00:15:10
baby of the family of course yeah and uh
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there used to be a nightclub in
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Wellington in in the bottom of Queen
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Street called the Sher Lee and I went
00:15:19
there this night and a guy's beating the
00:15:21
guy beating the [ __ ] out of a guy in the
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toilet and he said to
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me what are you looking at old deal to
00:15:29
you and I said if you can mate and I
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thought yeah that's good and he back
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down a little bit but I I just got the
00:15:36
confidence really I changed when I got
00:15:38
to Orland you know it was a it gave me
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confidence I didn't have anyone looking
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after me I had to stand on my own two
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feet you know yeah cuz you you I mean
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you do talk a big game to people you're
00:15:48
like look at these tattoos don't [ __ ]
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with me but but you I mean youve got the
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biggest I said that today I said see
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these tattoos I got those in Bost I
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never but to be fair when I you Bost
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that's like a like a youth youth Justice
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Facility or whatever isn't it yeah
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that's what they would back in the day
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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
00:16:10
to be fair yeah yeah B you should
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remember that yeah yeah but um so I mean
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a lot of people refer to you as as a
00:16:19
likable Rogue but it's like it's it's an
00:16:21
act right there's nothing rogy about you
00:16:23
at all no I'm a [ __ ] to be fear yeah
00:16:27
yeah but don't tell anyone everyone
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knows mate see those
00:16:31
ter and of course the Rings intimidate
00:16:34
them I'm sorry I haven't got the rings
00:16:35
on today but I'm getting a bit of memory
00:16:38
loss and I actually left them at home um
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because the Rings are very much part of
00:16:44
me one ring is what my mother and father
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gave me when they died you know and the
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other is a warrior a a Mad Butcher ring
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my daughter got made for me and then
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I've got a warrior ring as well if you
00:16:57
play a 100 games you get the ring and
00:16:59
they gave that to me some years ago yeah
00:17:01
and I feel naked without them but I
00:17:03
hardly wear them on why hecki cuz why
00:17:06
hecki is my chill out Place relax you
00:17:09
know and uh so I hardly wear them right
00:17:13
so so the the rings on the jewelry it's
00:17:14
like part of your sort of persona in a
00:17:15
way oh yeah it's part of me yeah um
00:17:19
let's talk about Janice so Janice is um
00:17:21
you guys got married young like early
00:17:23
20s so you've been together over 50
00:17:24
years we married two years before we had
00:17:26
children I know what you're thinking I
00:17:28
know you were leading shotgun wedding
00:17:32
leading no I
00:17:34
know I know what you're like and I know
00:17:36
how your mind goes no we you got me all
00:17:40
wrong we were married we were married
00:17:42
for a couple of years then we had Angie
00:17:44
then we had Julie a couple of years
00:17:45
later um yeah how did how did you guys
00:17:48
meet how old were you when you metet you
00:17:50
the schoolmates or what no no I was from
00:17:53
well she lived in Orland okay um she was
00:17:56
a blind date to be fear because uh I was
00:17:59
going out with my land lady's sister she
00:18:02
got a better offer got a guy with a
00:18:04
convertto and so I end up taking Janice
00:18:06
out and uh the rest of History being a
00:18:09
great wife great wife and you know I've
00:18:11
had some
00:18:12
uh bad times with health you know I uh
00:18:17
some you know died on an operating table
00:18:20
and some other stuff did you wi was that
00:18:22
a few years ago and she's been great
00:18:24
she's stuck with me the whole way and we
00:18:27
have up Sunday sounds a little bit you
00:18:29
know but that's what marriage is about
00:18:31
it's hard yeah yeah I mean yeah [ __ ] I'm
00:18:35
I'm 50 now and you I've gone I've gone
00:18:37
through one marriage already and it's um
00:18:38
we've been married blood we've been
00:18:40
married about 55 56 years what do you
00:18:43
reckon the secret is is it communication
00:18:45
or just being on the same tolerance it's
00:18:46
tolerance you know and give and take you
00:18:49
know yeah I mean when I first started
00:18:53
out I would come home we had a home and
00:18:56
Edge Water Drive and uh uh I'd get in
00:18:59
the front door my slippers would be
00:19:01
there then I'd go into the kitchen and
00:19:05
my tea would be there light snack light
00:19:07
snack and then I'd go upstairs and Kiss
00:19:09
the Girls good night go to bed I mean
00:19:11
Janice is I wouldn't be here without
00:19:14
Janice to be very blunt you know she's
00:19:16
very part very much part
00:19:19
of what I am who I am and how we got
00:19:22
where we are yeah does that
00:19:25
um I mean does does that scare you a b i
00:19:28
the same for her like when you're when
00:19:29
you're in a I suppose this is the the
00:19:31
trade-off like you have a long
00:19:32
successful relationship like that you
00:19:34
know someone that's by your side for the
00:19:36
best part of your life and then one of
00:19:38
you is going to die before the other it
00:19:40
does worry you yeah I don't know what
00:19:42
life would be without her to be fear and
00:19:44
vice verser I'd imagine yeah no that's
00:19:47
uh not worth thinking sorry sorry for
00:19:49
the down Buzz i' rather not
00:19:52
go no oh that's well congratulations U
00:19:56
yeah I mean I think it there a lot of
00:19:58
about you as a person uh but she's stuck
00:20:00
around all this time you said you've had
00:20:01
your ups and downs any sort of um like
00:20:04
separations where no no no no no nothing
00:20:07
like that just you know like with have
00:20:10
the odd argument and odd storm off or
00:20:13
you know but nothing major you know yeah
00:20:17
yeah when I look back at it it's been a
00:20:19
great marriage and she's been an
00:20:21
incredible woman cuz she's had to put up
00:20:23
with a lot I had she what well like
00:20:26
everywhere I go people want to talk to
00:20:28
me yeah and I I've got verbal diarrhea
00:20:31
and I talk to everyone and that can be
00:20:33
hard for her cuz some people can be rude
00:20:35
and not acknowledge her you know what I
00:20:37
mean um but she takes it um I suppose
00:20:41
it's just yeah it's part of the Mad
00:20:43
Butcher parcel isn't it yeah yeah and I
00:20:46
you know sometimes say well that's
00:20:48
what's got us here where we are you know
00:20:50
we've got a home in Oakland and Home in
00:20:52
Wy and we we never take it for granted
00:20:55
you know we never take it for granted
00:20:57
yeah yeah
00:20:59
um yeah so you're you're quite
00:21:01
financially secure but you you could be
00:21:03
a lot more financially secure like
00:21:04
you've been so alteristic Through The
00:21:06
Years haven't you like I don't know what
00:21:08
that means oh like generous
00:21:11
charitable like um like if that was your
00:21:14
goal to be rich you you'd be a lot
00:21:16
richer than what you are financially oh
00:21:17
no question yeah I mean we we've never
00:21:22
ever set out to be Filthy Rich we're
00:21:26
well off we're okay but that's just
00:21:28
because we worked hard and didn't waste
00:21:30
our money you know my home on my hick is
00:21:33
a nice home but it ain't some Mansion
00:21:36
you know what I mean um that's what you
00:21:38
need but we love it to be fair um and
00:21:42
we've had a bit of luck through life you
00:21:43
know a guy a guy called Mr Hill financed
00:21:46
me into my first business you know and
00:21:48
he was a lovely man lived in one High
00:21:50
Street remuera I go there to his house
00:21:53
this night and they sitting down and
00:21:55
they got all these knives and forks and
00:21:57
I said to well Mr Hill what he got all
00:21:59
these n and forks for he said oh this is
00:22:01
this and that and I said yeah but you
00:22:02
only got one pair of hands you can only
00:22:04
need one that's the way they ate but he
00:22:07
was a beautiful man trusted me and uh
00:22:09
had faith in me and that's how I got
00:22:12
started oh so he like gave you the the
00:22:14
line or bought into the he had he had a
00:22:16
block of shops and he wanted to sell
00:22:17
them and uh he couldn't get a butcher
00:22:21
and I went out to look at it just I
00:22:24
don't know why we had a 1950 moris Miner
00:22:26
our daughter Angela been born and uh I
00:22:30
don't know how we come to look at the
00:22:31
shop and he was there along with the
00:22:33
land agent and when we left he said what
00:22:36
do you think of it I said well you'd
00:22:37
never get rich you'd have to work bloody
00:22:39
hard to make a living CU it's not in a
00:22:41
good position he said would you be
00:22:44
interested I said mate look at the car I
00:22:45
drive we just moved into a new home
00:22:47
Beasley home no carpetless I said we got
00:22:49
no money so he asked me for my phone
00:22:52
number and I was scared to give it to
00:22:54
him because normally the cops were
00:22:55
asking for that and um I gave it to him
00:22:59
and he rang me some months
00:23:01
later and I can't remember the exact
00:23:03
details but he I remember he called me
00:23:05
to a meeting and I said why would you
00:23:09
want to do this to me he said well I
00:23:11
sent my wife down to buy meat off you
00:23:12
and she said you're a beautiful you're a
00:23:15
lovely man and you carried the meat out
00:23:17
the I said to him without hesitation
00:23:20
this is my
00:23:21
humor I said if she must be a lot
00:23:25
younger than you and he didn't even
00:23:28
he didn't even smile um but she he she
00:23:32
he before I left he asked me where I
00:23:34
worked on that and he made that must
00:23:36
have made a note of it and uh he had
00:23:38
sent his wife down to buy meat they
00:23:39
lived in one High Street room you Era
00:23:41
and she'd come down and buy meat and I'd
00:23:43
carried out you know and and she said he
00:23:45
was very pleasant you know knew his job
00:23:48
and uh and that's why he decided to uh
00:23:52
make an offer to me I didn't even know
00:23:54
what Finance was I had no idea yeah so
00:23:57
you Yeah you mentioned before you had um
00:24:00
more than one job so you were you were a
00:24:01
butcher you were cleaning as well did
00:24:03
you say I was cleaning South o Motors at
00:24:05
one stage early in the morning and how
00:24:07
we then like late teens early 20s oh
00:24:10
would never clean that and then um I was
00:24:14
uh bony meat for a guy called Bill Tini
00:24:17
and pamu at night here um did did you
00:24:22
just did you need the cleaning job as to
00:24:24
supplement your income yeah right to
00:24:26
yeah [ __ ] and then what happened he the
00:24:29
agreement was that after a year or two
00:24:31
years I could walk away and he he he
00:24:34
brought me a new van everything he gave
00:24:35
me he gave me a blank checks virtually
00:24:37
and said get what you need to get the
00:24:39
shop going I said well I'll need a
00:24:41
vehicle cuz I can't come from packar at
00:24:43
I'm angry uh in my old minor and um the
00:24:47
deal was he would take it
00:24:51
over and I'd give him I'd give
00:24:54
him everything back you know
00:24:58
and we had a meeting and I said it's not
00:25:01
going too good Mr he said that's a good
00:25:03
Peter give me the keys you I can't
00:25:05
you've tried really hard I said well I
00:25:07
don't want to leave you in the Lurch he
00:25:09
said to me another lesson in life he
00:25:12
said you pay me when I'm going to cut
00:25:15
the interest and you pay me when you
00:25:17
want to pay when you can afford it
00:25:19
straight away the Noose got loosen
00:25:20
around my leg Yeah so I could think
00:25:22
better yeah and so yeah we ended up yeah
00:25:26
so there was so there was your first
00:25:28
store yeah and then how how did you
00:25:29
expand how did you how did you grow what
00:25:32
happened was he sold the building and
00:25:34
then the new owner put the rent up and I
00:25:36
had I I had no option I could not go
00:25:38
back losing money again you know and uh
00:25:42
a lady said to me one day I was telling
00:25:44
her about it and she said why didn't you
00:25:47
get the butcher shop around the corner
00:25:48
which was 268 messy Road that's where
00:25:51
the real home of the Mad Butcher started
00:25:53
and uh it I remember my wife's cousin
00:25:57
worked for hes and he he's a very much a
00:26:00
family man very much a family man and he
00:26:04
said to me we went to an engagement
00:26:06
party or something on a Friday night and
00:26:07
he said to me Peter you need to get out
00:26:10
sell that shop get out of it he said
00:26:12
because gooes had come in and gooes was
00:26:15
the big Supermarket from England Elbert
00:26:18
goo and he said you know we our job is
00:26:21
to send you under and I thought about it
00:26:23
I said to Janice we started with nothing
00:26:25
so we even if we go go you know to close
00:26:28
we have to close the shop we still got
00:26:30
the gear to sell so you know and uh it
00:26:33
turned out I was smart
00:26:36
I I I don't know if I brought the
00:26:39
property then but I did eventually buy
00:26:41
it and um the uh we put big signs on the
00:26:46
side of the thing you know so when they
00:26:47
were going to goo base and I had a car
00:26:49
park they would stop and get the cheap
00:26:51
meat and so we that was the journey
00:26:53
that's when the real journey started and
00:26:56
uh yeah yeah yeah how many how many
00:26:59
stores did you end up with I think we
00:27:01
ended up with 40 stores [ __ ] that's a
00:27:03
lot oh yeah over how many how many years
00:27:05
do you you try and do like one a year a
00:27:07
couple of years just that was just the
00:27:08
way the ball bounced yeah and to be
00:27:11
fair I went I took a partnering called
00:27:14
Rod slider and we were at partnership
00:27:16
for a few years but he was never a
00:27:18
partner of the Mad Butcher we set up a
00:27:21
company called Rod pit Enterprise and we
00:27:22
opened three stores and um we then
00:27:27
dissolved that agreement you know um but
00:27:29
we never had an argument and to this day
00:27:31
we're still friends and great guy and uh
00:27:35
yeah look it's just been an incredible
00:27:37
journey mate you know yeah but
00:27:40
financially when did when did it start
00:27:41
paying off like when when you've well
00:27:44
when you got 40 stores you must be doing
00:27:45
very well at that point but I didn't
00:27:46
know them they were franchise I think
00:27:48
most of them and we know okay so you're
00:27:50
just getting like a little from each
00:27:52
store and the other thing is never be
00:27:54
scared to seek
00:27:56
advice in those days the king of
00:27:58
franchis was McDonald's yeah so I ran
00:28:01
McDonald's to see if I could see the big
00:28:03
boss lady said no you know what he want
00:28:05
for I thought I want to get some advice
00:28:07
on franchise and said I he's very busy
00:28:08
w't see him for a few weeks you know and
00:28:11
then she said you're not the Mad Butcher
00:28:12
are you I I seen him the next day his
00:28:15
name was El dun he virtually said to me
00:28:18
but a nicer language he said to me your
00:28:20
franchise agreement has to be so tight
00:28:22
they can't piss fart or pee without your
00:28:25
permission and that's and that was a
00:28:27
saving graceful because my franchise
00:28:29
agreement was that tight yeah because
00:28:32
without my
00:28:35
name yeah yeah the name and the brand is
00:28:37
everything yeah so recognizable and has
00:28:40
your voice always
00:28:42
been I mean I've I've known you I guess
00:28:44
25 years um and you your voice has
00:28:47
always been like that I'm trying to
00:28:49
imagine what your voice was like as a
00:28:50
young man I wouldn't have a clue mate
00:28:52
come you all make the rum Stak 77.99 a
00:28:56
kilo you can't beat them mad wiches meat
00:28:58
oh they love it when I say that people
00:29:00
you know people still come up say go and
00:29:03
give it to us give us it to you know um
00:29:05
it's been a wonderful Journey you know
00:29:07
met so many wonderful people and uh made
00:29:10
so many friends it's it's been a
00:29:12
blessing to be fear and and your kids
00:29:16
they all worked at the store at some
00:29:17
point Didn't They y yeah didn't you fire
00:29:19
them fire them over and over again no I
00:29:21
had to let it go cuz things were a bit
00:29:23
tough she was she wasn't happy um no but
00:29:27
they both worked at times uh they both
00:29:30
the the family played a big part you
00:29:32
know as the journey went through um yeah
00:29:37
and what about League where did you
00:29:40
mangry East mang East Haws so you you
00:29:44
you you were busy running your business
00:29:45
and uh raising a young family and um
00:29:48
someone came in and asked for
00:29:49
sponsorship and that was your
00:29:50
introduction to Le that's right Colin
00:29:51
Christian who was the chairman of the
00:29:53
club come in and said to me would you
00:29:55
consider sponsoring the club I said well
00:29:57
what what sponsorship I didn't know he
00:29:59
said oh well you know you you could give
00:30:01
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
00:30:04
bloody cash so we end up giving them a
00:30:06
few meat packs and went on for a while
00:30:09
he said why don't you come down for a
00:30:10
beer so I went down there mate my sort
00:30:13
of people drinking lion red
00:30:15
predominantly marry Polynesians you know
00:30:17
my sort of people I got on well with and
00:30:20
um next thing I'm sponsoring the club
00:30:22
and as time got on the sponsorship got
00:30:25
bigger and uh terms like a financial
00:30:28
contribution or
00:30:29
what yeah yeah I I remember one year I I
00:30:33
I I took out an insurance policy and if
00:30:36
they won the premiership they would have
00:30:38
got 10 grand wow but they didn't win you
00:30:40
know which was sad because I paid the
00:30:42
insurance policy um but I'll tell you a
00:30:45
lovely
00:30:46
story there's a player called Leslie vne
00:30:49
Cola made his name in England
00:30:51
particularly with rugby lovely guy he
00:30:54
went to a a jubilee at the mangri leag
00:30:57
club and there was on a Mad Butcher
00:30:58
Jersey on display and he got up and said
00:31:01
I I can't believe there's not a Mad
00:31:02
Butcher Jersey he said this man saved
00:31:05
the club why is there not a jersey what
00:31:07
happened that the club got into major
00:31:09
debt and I got them out of debt
00:31:12
personally got them out of debt by
00:31:13
bringing Wally Lewis to speak and Melman
00:31:15
ining and a couple of other things and
00:31:17
of course but what happens is new people
00:31:19
come and they don't know you they don't
00:31:21
know the history you know that's life
00:31:23
you know and you move on or you getting
00:31:25
getting you a boss that wants to make
00:31:26
some changes or stamp your own mark on
00:31:28
it yeah exactly mate
00:31:30
yeah but no it's been a great journey
00:31:33
and that's how the love the rugby league
00:31:34
coming when you consider I managed to
00:31:36
kiwis in 2005 and we beat Australia 240
00:31:41
in the final of the tri Nations 2006 we
00:31:44
just got pipped at the post yeah two
00:31:46
books come out on that as well yeah uh
00:31:49
because I get the feeling with you it's
00:31:51
um it's less about the sport itself and
00:31:53
just more about the people and the the
00:31:55
commun the sense of community that that
00:31:57
you get I've been to Ericson a couple of
00:31:59
times and I've seen you and you're
00:32:00
running around and people are calling
00:32:02
you and you're letting people in you're
00:32:03
going to the gate you're not even
00:32:04
watching the games no no um this is
00:32:07
going to shock you and whoever's
00:32:09
watching I actually know nothing about
00:32:11
rug I have a great passion for the game
00:32:15
and and the people and the people but I
00:32:17
don't know the rules I I don't know the
00:32:19
rules you know and I couldn't care less
00:32:22
it's just my re it's my relaxation you
00:32:25
see when you when you when you're build
00:32:27
in a
00:32:28
business and you're 24/7 worried about
00:32:31
how you going to pay the bills and that
00:32:33
you need something to relax and my
00:32:35
relaxation which go and watching the
00:32:37
Hawks play I'd go to Carlo Park and
00:32:39
watch them and I've never bothered to
00:32:41
learn the rules some said to me just
00:32:43
recently why don't you earn the rules
00:32:45
buter I said well I don't want them I
00:32:47
don't need to iose I suppose yeah you
00:32:49
probably like my I'm probably the same
00:32:51
as you like I know what I know what's
00:32:52
happening I know when they score a try
00:32:53
and I you know you don't know you don't
00:32:56
need to know
00:32:58
I said to this I said to this person I
00:33:00
don't need to mate I was manager of the
00:33:02
kiwis that helped to turn the tide of
00:33:04
New Zealand rugby league we beat
00:33:05
Australia 24- nil in the final in the UK
00:33:10
I said the next year we just got pipped
00:33:12
at the post I was the manager and I went
00:33:14
through a couple of things that I've
00:33:15
been involved in you know in rugby
00:33:17
league and beyond my wild I never
00:33:19
thought I'd be in those positions you
00:33:21
know yeah how how did that happen you
00:33:23
sort of went from like mascot to manager
00:33:25
really didn't you well then Anderson
00:33:28
when we traveled I would fill in as
00:33:30
manager sometimes and he was impressed
00:33:33
so he got me the job as the kiwi's
00:33:36
manager and then the bucker turned
00:33:38
around and takes off to bloody England I
00:33:40
think was some Helens he went to so
00:33:42
there there was there was a proper job
00:33:43
like man what what did you have to do as
00:33:44
manager of the team ah it it wasn't a
00:33:47
PID job you know it was uh you organize
00:33:50
you know travel and you know you make
00:33:52
sure the guys are on the bus some time
00:33:54
and you get them you teach them
00:33:56
disciplines like you know I said if
00:33:58
you're late I'll leave you behind and uh
00:34:02
we we were in England and I left the
00:34:04
doctor behind cuz he wasn't down on the
00:34:06
bus one time and he wasn't happy and
00:34:09
someone said to me on the bus oh the
00:34:10
doctor's not on I
00:34:12
said I know
00:34:14
that but I said no no what did I tell
00:34:18
you then I I I you know raised the voice
00:34:20
what did I tell you all you buggers I
00:34:22
said if you're not down on time you get
00:34:24
left behind the doctor's no bloody
00:34:26
except and he can walk to the bloody
00:34:28
Stadium he wasn't very happy the doctor
00:34:30
but I st you know stuck had your R and
00:34:34
um uh you you like that with the players
00:34:36
as well you You' you know pull them
00:34:38
aside and have a word if you had to yep
00:34:40
no no you had to you had to be the boss
00:34:42
it's not easy and that they they
00:34:43
respected you and took you seriously not
00:34:45
like you know whatever you I asked Adam
00:34:47
BL the other day who was the best
00:34:49
manager he had he said you butch by far
00:34:51
and he didn't have to say that uh look I
00:34:54
I Ruled with the f
00:34:57
[Music]
00:34:58
that's rude leaving your phone on when
00:35:00
we having a chat I know that is so rude
00:35:02
hey um hey Ash I'm here with the Mad
00:35:03
Butcher we're just doing a
00:35:06
podcast hello hi I'm just I'm just here
00:35:08
with the m butcher doing a
00:35:11
podcast oh hang
00:35:14
on
00:35:16
sh turn my phone off sorry yeah oh I
00:35:21
didn't answer I'm going to be in trouble
00:35:22
now um oh yes um any um well let me let
00:35:26
me tell you story I have a very good
00:35:28
friend on miky island called lley been
00:35:31
my friend for over 50 odd
00:35:34
years when we were back in New Zealand I
00:35:38
brought him into the camp as my
00:35:40
assistant and made one of the loveliest
00:35:43
things in his life it just made him feel
00:35:46
so special you see it's very special to
00:35:49
be involved in the team and you know
00:35:52
yeah and I loved every minute of it yeah
00:35:54
I mean there were hard times you had to
00:35:56
be hard but I was also very lucky I had
00:35:58
a guy called Pat karthy who was the uh
00:36:01
Financial sort of guy after the gear and
00:36:04
he was very good we got on well and it's
00:36:06
all about a combination blue em panon
00:36:08
was the coach you know but Daniel got me
00:36:11
the job and might then took off to St
00:36:14
Helens I think but a great guy and I've
00:36:17
uh I went over to the fundraiser because
00:36:20
as you know Daniel Anderson's you know
00:36:23
paraplegic now yeah from here down he's
00:36:25
what happened to him he he got hit yeah
00:36:28
right right but you know up here sharp
00:36:31
as a tech sharp as a tech great guy and
00:36:34
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
00:36:40
Daniel Anderson week that's coming up in
00:36:42
about a week's time yeah oh how good I I
00:36:44
think we'll sort the stay and we're
00:36:46
going to give part of the gate to him
00:36:49
that's nice yeah um yeah on on your
00:36:52
Facebook like you're still you catch up
00:36:54
with a lot of um former players like you
00:36:56
a lot of them are still friends for life
00:36:59
yeah who who who are your your best
00:37:01
friends that are former players you seem
00:37:02
to hang out with Stacy Jones a lot well
00:37:04
Stacy's close yeah he's uh his
00:37:06
birthday's May the 7th mine's May the
00:37:08
eth and we have formed a quite a good
00:37:11
Bond when I went over to the Daniel
00:37:13
Anderson uh fundraiser and um I went to
00:37:17
the game the next day I pushed the boat
00:37:19
out pretty bad bad and he rang me the
00:37:22
next week on the Wednesday and said how
00:37:23
are you I said I'm still Eed mate you
00:37:26
know
00:37:27
yeah no but just look to be fa I love
00:37:29
the more Motu Tony they're all special
00:37:32
to me um yeah that's cool um there
00:37:38
there's an episode that you did of um
00:37:39
this is your life I watched that a
00:37:40
couple of days ago in preparation for
00:37:42
this um it's it's funny seeing the the
00:37:44
the Kiwi players in the front row
00:37:46
there's Simon mening there um young
00:37:48
Stacy Jones young Monty be very young
00:37:51
manui um so you've been a part of these
00:37:53
guys
00:37:54
lives since they were like teenagers
00:37:57
that was very
00:37:58
humbling they the producer or whoever
00:38:02
rung the Kiwi camp and said we'd like a
00:38:05
couple of Warriors to come along so the
00:38:08
the coach or manager said to the got the
00:38:10
team they have team meeting said you
00:38:12
know the Butch has got this as your life
00:38:14
on and in this country it's a big thing
00:38:17
and they like two people and they they
00:38:19
just sit up the whole team goes or no
00:38:21
one goes whole team come which was a and
00:38:25
and they were playing the next day or
00:38:27
something I can't remember the exact
00:38:29
details oh so they were in Camp so oh
00:38:31
they were in Camp a big honor a big
00:38:33
honor absolutely yeah so a lot of people
00:38:35
watching watching this or listening to
00:38:37
this podcast won't even remember this is
00:38:39
your life but it's an iconic TV show um
00:38:41
Bob Parker hosted in New Zealand back in
00:38:43
the day the episode that you did so Paul
00:38:44
Holmes who's no longer with us he he was
00:38:46
hosting it so you're um so so you're at
00:38:50
you're at you're at the theater watching
00:38:51
some show and he just pops up pops up
00:38:55
with a with a book do do are you are you
00:38:56
did you have any inkling at what's going
00:38:58
on what happened I J must have been in
00:39:00
on it though no I thought there was
00:39:01
something going on because they wanted
00:39:02
me to go and see the show at the Civic
00:39:05
Theater and they wanted to do a family
00:39:07
thing and I thought this is not you know
00:39:09
I I felt there was something not right
00:39:12
so at half time we standing Paul Holmes
00:39:14
coming through and you know Paul Holmes
00:39:16
bit like me talk hello how are you hello
00:39:18
how are talk to everyone has anyone seen
00:39:19
the mad and there I was come over and he
00:39:22
he said you know we're going back to the
00:39:24
studio do do this is your life it was uh
00:39:26
it was quite a thing and people can
00:39:28
actually Google that and watch it yeah
00:39:30
it's on you that's how I watched it it's
00:39:32
on YouTube and uh yeah it was pretty
00:39:34
special and they had my teacher there
00:39:36
called Mrs Maine yeah and to be to be
00:39:39
fair I don't want to be don't want to be
00:39:40
rude but um yeah she looked younger than
00:39:43
you yeah but anyhow Paul left the book
00:39:46
down and I cheated and I looked who was
00:39:49
coming up so this voice comes up and I
00:39:51
jumped out of the chair that's Mrs M my
00:39:53
old teacher and what we done we took her
00:39:55
out for a drink after afterwards and
00:39:57
Paul come to the pub with us and he got
00:39:59
pissed and they asked me to get rid of
00:40:00
him cuz the the management cuz he was
00:40:03
over the you know really oh homesi was a
00:40:05
bit obnoxious oh no no no no he was just
00:40:08
pissed you know they didn't want that
00:40:09
under anyhow we got rid of him and we
00:40:13
flew down to Wellington and took Mrs M
00:40:15
and husband out for
00:40:17
dinner sometime later as a thank you cuz
00:40:20
she gave me a little bit of Hope the
00:40:21
last year at school yeah you know year
00:40:23
cuz when you in my
00:40:25
day
00:40:27
when you were dumb like I was you got
00:40:29
the worst teachers you got the worst oh
00:40:31
cuz you're in the dumb the dumb class we
00:40:33
had a teacher at College before Mrs
00:40:36
Maine she should never have been
00:40:38
teaching you know she'd break down a cry
00:40:41
over nothing you know it was a joke the
00:40:44
head Master come in one day roaring you
00:40:46
know what have you done you know what
00:40:47
have you done and have done anything she
00:40:49
just she just bloody you know she was H
00:40:52
just brutal yeah um but this is your
00:40:55
life thing one of the one of the guests
00:40:57
on that was um John K this is when he
00:40:58
was prime minister so you had the
00:41:00
sitting prime minister of the country um
00:41:03
on this TV show to like pay honor to you
00:41:06
it's massive yeah you have to you have
00:41:07
to understand that me and Sir John
00:41:10
become friends through the Christ
00:41:12
earthquake mhm uh I seen some of the
00:41:15
good stuff he done down there and uh I'd
00:41:18
always s I'd always sort of been a labor
00:41:20
candidate and uh when the election come
00:41:23
up I come out and it was for me to come
00:41:27
out cuz you know my roots are working
00:41:30
class and uh support him and he to this
00:41:33
day he says the butcher got me reelected
00:41:36
because he reckons I swung a lot of
00:41:37
Labor people right though he he his
00:41:40
words were something like they would
00:41:42
think if it's good enough for the
00:41:44
butcher it's good enough for us you know
00:41:46
and uh but he was a good man he without
00:41:48
without that he was the best prime
00:41:50
minister we had although you you called
00:41:51
them thick on
00:41:53
TV well you call everyone thick though
00:41:55
don't you
00:41:56
like my my mouth opens before my brain
00:42:00
and you got to remember I've only got a
00:42:01
small brain mate small brain um and
00:42:05
Wally Lewis he flew over for this is
00:42:07
your life as well he's been in the at
00:42:08
the time we're recording this um it's
00:42:10
just come out in the past week that he's
00:42:11
got um dementia I think yeah but you're
00:42:14
still in touch did you message him when
00:42:16
you hear that news I regularly regularly
00:42:19
you know um and I actually said to him
00:42:22
the other day look willly Wally on
00:42:26
losing memory I've got some issues you
00:42:29
know I said to them I trip over all the
00:42:31
time now and I tripped over today when
00:42:33
we're coming to do this podcast and I
00:42:35
hit my head really hard and my head
00:42:37
bounced off the concrete you know um and
00:42:40
I've got a bit of memory loss as well
00:42:42
you know so that's you know part of
00:42:43
getting old but he's not old but I said
00:42:45
just got to move on you know um but now
00:42:48
he's been a great friend you know but
00:42:50
I'm lucky I met some wonderful people in
00:42:53
rugby league you know from fans there's
00:42:55
two woman in England I
00:42:57
met uh I spoke to her on Facebook early
00:43:00
this morning um and uh she's been out
00:43:04
met my family you know we've stayed in
00:43:07
touch all these years yeah and that
00:43:09
would
00:43:09
be ah before I was manager of the kiwis
00:43:13
I met them I met them in the skyra hotel
00:43:17
in leads and they just added a rugby
00:43:21
league people Dawn and I C the another
00:43:24
one there yeah in here God you give you
00:43:27
give so much of your time does does
00:43:28
anyone um like sort of you know take
00:43:31
advantage of
00:43:33
you have you you got quite good sense of
00:43:36
that oh and I can pick that up yeah yeah
00:43:38
yeah You' being an easy target for a lot
00:43:40
of people I reckon just you're easy
00:43:42
target but they find out you know I've
00:43:43
had a few people try to you know hook on
00:43:46
my coattail for their own benefit you
00:43:48
know but no yeah so you're a good judge
00:43:51
of character you have to I always tell
00:43:53
people when I first open the shop people
00:43:56
used to pay by check all right oh that's
00:43:58
right they bouncing Che not everybody
00:44:01
but there were a lot and because I
00:44:04
didn't have a lot of money I had to make
00:44:06
a I had to make a decision is this
00:44:09
person good for the money and I had to
00:44:12
look them up and down and make a
00:44:14
decision I got it right most times you
00:44:17
know and so that's made me a good judge
00:44:19
of character Mar dick used to often use
00:44:21
me as a ref reference what do you think
00:44:23
of this person M dick for those people
00:44:26
famous radio broadcaster yeah great
00:44:28
Sports broad famous than youw Fe
00:44:31
oh oh he didn't like that he didn't like
00:44:34
that oh that that was a knife to the
00:44:36
Bone that's it I'm done de is more
00:44:40
famous than
00:44:44
me um no it's got to be uh it's got to
00:44:48
be hard though because as you said
00:44:49
before like you're all about positivity
00:44:51
and no no negativity so when when you're
00:44:53
wired that way and you do you want to
00:44:55
see the good in people people yeah so
00:44:57
and there's some Beautiful People Mate I
00:44:59
I've met some wonderful people like I
00:45:02
told you the guy bringing the mug back
00:45:03
from England
00:45:05
the um but I I've had some wonderful
00:45:09
things happen to me you know re what you
00:45:11
saw though yeah and when
00:45:14
I when I died on the operating table
00:45:18
somehow it got into the public Arena and
00:45:21
the cards we got the cards we got
00:45:24
unbelievable and some of the letters
00:45:28
when I flew people up from Christ Church
00:45:30
for the uh I'd fly them up to a Warrior
00:45:32
game and fly them home afterwards and
00:45:35
I've still got some of the letters you
00:45:38
know pretty special moments to be fair
00:45:42
oh 100% yeah yeah cuz so you mentioned
00:45:45
dying on the operating table um yeah you
00:45:48
sh you're lucky to be here and your late
00:45:49
70s there's been a a hell of a lot of
00:45:51
Health scares haven't there so when was
00:45:53
the what was the operating table thing
00:45:54
that you're talking about I was getting
00:45:55
valves done or something oh you had like
00:45:57
stance put in your heart or something
00:45:59
like there's been bladder cancer um
00:46:02
diabetes arthritis yep yeah how are you
00:46:05
now you right was good as gold I could
00:46:08
take you out in the first
00:46:10
round
00:46:12
yeah yeah but you can't you can't Tom
00:46:16
you can't dwell on the past you got to
00:46:18
look to the Future yeah and you've just
00:46:20
got to enjoy every
00:46:22
day I used to be a graved digger and
00:46:26
when I used to do public speaking I used
00:46:27
to ask people what would you Lear at
00:46:29
being a grave digger you know and I
00:46:31
would tell them my first grave I dug was
00:46:33
a a six-year old boy you know no one
00:46:37
ever got it right I would write the
00:46:38
answer in my pocket and I'd hold a $100
00:46:40
note up and say anyone gets right you
00:46:42
get this or how to dig holes all this
00:46:45
you learn the value of life because none
00:46:49
of us know when we're going to click out
00:46:51
could be
00:46:52
today it could be you look at the kids
00:46:56
that die at 8 or 9 so you got to enjoy
00:46:58
every day while you can you know yeah I
00:47:01
feel like you do as well don't you I do
00:47:03
my best yeah I don't have a lot of
00:47:06
regrets you know there are what regrets
00:47:09
do you have I can't tell you they're
00:47:12
secret um now I I I think I do enjoy you
00:47:17
know I try to enjoy life as much you
00:47:19
know yeah I I I think um I mean I mean
00:47:22
if you get to your late '70s and you've
00:47:24
got no regrets then it's like haven't
00:47:25
lived a very rich or fulfilling life
00:47:27
have you I think you need some regrets
00:47:29
oh yeah but you you you mentioned one
00:47:31
before like the regret of I suppose
00:47:33
working so hard that you missed um
00:47:35
spending time with your kids yeah I'm
00:47:37
curious to know what these secret
00:47:38
regrets are um you got another family
00:47:41
somewhere secret family how dare you how
00:47:45
dare you speak to a knight of the realm
00:47:47
like that by
00:47:50
God terrible um yeah um so how do you
00:47:54
how do you feel about aging I I I I get
00:47:56
the sense that you're frustrated about
00:47:58
losing your memory and you're losing
00:47:59
your balance and stuff yeah well if you
00:48:02
had to seen me today you'd understand
00:48:04
why because mate mate I hit my head on
00:48:06
the concrete and I bounced up my mate
00:48:10
that was with me he he he panic and
00:48:13
people rushed to me we had three people
00:48:15
rush to me cuz they seen it yeah and boy
00:48:19
they were concerned um what was the
00:48:22
question now oh yeah you seem frustrated
00:48:25
by some of the some of the things that
00:48:26
are you're losing with age yeah you do
00:48:29
but at the same token you turn it into
00:48:31
positivity yeah you're 79 you're still
00:48:34
alive you know and you're still
00:48:37
reasonably you know I mean the Big Mate
00:48:40
you're Shar up as a tech yeah the the
00:48:42
biggest fear I think you have when
00:48:44
you're getting old and you're losing a
00:48:46
bit of memory is that dementia coming on
00:48:49
you know and I say this
00:48:52
respectfully when you think some people
00:48:54
have got dementia and they don't know
00:48:55
what what day of the week is they don't
00:48:57
know if a bus is running them over you
00:48:59
know well I don't want to be like that I
00:49:01
want to be given an injection and put to
00:49:03
sleep because I don't want other people
00:49:06
having waste their time because it is a
00:49:08
waste of time and I say that
00:49:10
respectfully I say that respectfully but
00:49:13
you know you don't know you don't know
00:49:14
if you're pooing or peeing or whatever
00:49:16
you know and yeah yeah also you wouldn't
00:49:19
you wouldn't necessarily want to lose
00:49:20
the less um the the essence of who you
00:49:22
are as a person you know you know what I
00:49:24
mean like you wouldn't want um
00:49:26
Stacy Jones to come and visit you and go
00:49:27
oh it's not it's not butch anymore no no
00:49:31
yeah
00:49:33
uh the worst thing is you you wouldn't
00:49:35
know anything and that that's a terrible
00:49:37
thing you know and I I I feel sorry for
00:49:40
anyone that's having and we've got a
00:49:42
friend now that's got it and uh his
00:49:46
wife's thinking of bringing him home
00:49:48
and she's wasting their time are you
00:49:51
getting a are you getting a bit Misty
00:49:53
eyed a little bit yeah are you quite an
00:49:55
emotional guy these days I think so yeah
00:49:59
you always always been that way or is
00:50:01
that like something that's Creed up on
00:50:02
age it's a bit more with old age I think
00:50:04
yeah yeah I've sort of found like that I
00:50:06
I I during my 20s or 30s I I think maybe
00:50:08
I cried at my n's funeral and maybe with
00:50:11
one failed round of IVF and that was
00:50:12
probably it now now I this a story they
00:50:17
generally um for me it's mainly mainly
00:50:19
tears of gratitude these days you're
00:50:21
you're in PR you're in the prime of life
00:50:22
you should be enjoying life while you
00:50:24
can cuz you don't what's around the
00:50:26
corner yeah and I do get a bit emotional
00:50:28
now um just by aging you know that's
00:50:33
good yeah P of Aging yeah and you know
00:50:36
that's the negative but the positive is
00:50:38
how you still there to get back nearly
00:50:40
slept you're there yeah this is a
00:50:42
podcast you can you can swear all you
00:50:44
want no I've got to try to cut
00:50:47
down cutting back I us restricting
00:50:49
yourself to eight F bombs a day when I
00:50:52
used to do public speaking for the
00:50:54
celebrity speakers they would tell the
00:50:55
people you speak he he will say the f
00:50:58
word eight or nine times one of one of
00:51:01
the great stories of that a lady
00:51:04
contacted them for me to do a spection
00:51:06
in Bago and I had a I have a affiliation
00:51:10
cuz I used to MC a fishing company down
00:51:12
there called the BL fishing comp the
00:51:14
starby craft fishing competition I Haven
00:51:16
seen it for a few years
00:51:19
anyhow they said I do swear oh no we the
00:51:23
bus doesn't want any swearing they said
00:51:25
no that's that's the deal can we
00:51:28
approach him directly but still pay you
00:51:30
the fee okay so the lady Rings me and I
00:51:33
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
00:51:38
Eric Rush he's an outstanding speaker
00:51:40
doesn't swear and I gave her a couple of
00:51:42
other names her very good
00:51:45
speakers she come back a couple of weeks
00:51:48
later boss wants you m I said well to be
00:51:52
fair my wife's not keen on coming down
00:51:55
so they ended up they paid me twice the
00:51:57
fee which was $88,000 wow cuz it was
00:52:00
$4,000 only yeah to get me down there
00:52:03
they flew Jenis down as well give us an
00:52:05
extra night accommodation down there and
00:52:09
when I was doing the speech a guy walked
00:52:11
in the just as we starting we started I
00:52:15
said excuse me mate excuse me
00:52:17
punctuality key the success now come and
00:52:20
sit down here I want to sit up there I
00:52:22
said I'm running the show [ __ ] sit
00:52:23
down here and it was the boss Jesus
00:52:28
anyhow afterwards I had a coat with him
00:52:29
cuz he didn't drink and uh he said know
00:52:32
that was perfect he said that's just one
00:52:34
of the points I was trying to get
00:52:36
through and he said uh you didn't offend
00:52:39
me swearing you had a NE about you but
00:52:42
the nice thing about it I got them to
00:52:43
write the check for Ron McDonald house
00:52:46
but they just say this is from the Mad
00:52:48
Butcher you know and um the next day
00:52:51
they sent me a gift around for me and
00:52:53
Janice and I said to the lady no you
00:52:55
don't need to do that you paid me no the
00:52:57
boss wanted the boss loved it so much he
00:52:59
wanted to give you something else here
00:53:00
oh it's nice you meet nice people yeah
00:53:02
you um you did that a lot when you did
00:53:03
your public speaking you get you'd get a
00:53:05
fee and you'd give the fee to charity
00:53:06
yeah
00:53:07
yeah so you know I never kept a record
00:53:10
of how much I gave away [ __ ] you're
00:53:12
you're you must have been your
00:53:13
accountant's nightmare I don't know if
00:53:16
the accountant knew about it after the
00:53:17
time yeah um yeah I don't know to be
00:53:21
fair but you know I never kept a record
00:53:24
but should what what do you reckon 5 mil
00:53:26
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
00:53:31
going to put a figure on it um because
00:53:33
that that's sort of the reason you got
00:53:35
kned really isn't it it was for services
00:53:36
to charity and business but well no
00:53:40
anyone can get KN it yeah all
00:53:42
right what happens is someone's got to
00:53:46
nominate you and then they have to
00:53:48
follow it with some letters of
00:53:51
uh like recommendation or whatever yeah
00:53:54
and one of of the guys that was
00:53:56
instrumental in it was a GU called Bob
00:53:59
Houston from the pon Rugby
00:54:02
Club he approached me once for some
00:54:06
sponsorship and I helped him out not a
00:54:08
big
00:54:09
deal but he said to someone one day how
00:54:13
come this guy's not kned you know he
00:54:14
does like I sponsored the pon Rugby Club
00:54:17
in that and uh all you need is people to
00:54:20
nominate you and to to and anyone can be
00:54:23
kned but I mean
00:54:25
when they when they kned me they broke
00:54:27
the the mold because there's not many
00:54:30
kns around the world that a character
00:54:35
like me swears a lot you know it's a bit
00:54:38
of a lar um yeah but it was it was
00:54:42
through the the sharing of the love out
00:54:44
there you know what I mean oh yeah like
00:54:47
yeah I mean yeah business aside like
00:54:49
there there's a lot of people that set
00:54:50
up businesses and do well in business a
00:54:51
lot of people that have done terribly in
00:54:53
business a lot of lot of people that
00:54:54
have done way better than what you had
00:54:56
but it's plenty of people yeah the other
00:54:59
stuff that you you do though and um I
00:55:02
genuinely don't think the business had
00:55:04
anything to do with it I believe it was
00:55:06
what I do in the community see I have a
00:55:08
saying the greatest gift you can give
00:55:10
anyone is your time and I stand by that
00:55:12
you can't buy time you know when the
00:55:14
good maker comes and says you're coming
00:55:16
to heaven or the Devil comes and say
00:55:17
you're coming downstairs you can't say
00:55:19
I'll give you $2 million to leave me go
00:55:22
you can't do that you know it's that's
00:55:24
life mate you know and you just move on
00:55:27
do do you do you believe in in afterlife
00:55:29
do you think there's an no no no no so
00:55:32
when you're gone you're gone yeah yeah
00:55:34
yeah yeah I want a big Memorial no I
00:55:37
don't I have a joke with my family like
00:55:39
a statue statue at um go media Stadium
00:55:44
yeah um we should have one there for
00:55:46
Stacy Jones to be fair yeah um but no it
00:55:51
it it it people say to me you know oh
00:55:54
you're lucky you got anointed what do
00:55:56
you get what do you get you know what
00:55:59
you get what do you think you get get
00:56:01
anointed like a little middle or
00:56:02
something no you get respect right you
00:56:06
get respect a lot more respect oh do you
00:56:10
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
00:56:13
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
00:56:18
not in the position to because you've
00:56:19
never been no no but like my my respect
00:56:23
for you had my opinion of you my respect
00:56:26
for you hasn't changed since you no but
00:56:27
a lot of
00:56:28
people that they take you seriously they
00:56:31
they they noticed you know um yeah well
00:56:36
that's my opinion you know uh and you
00:56:39
got to remember they don't like people
00:56:41
like me and I'm not being humble when I
00:56:43
say that it's a fact of life I'm
00:56:44
Different mate swear like a trooper and
00:56:48
carry on Mich laran at times yeah you
00:56:51
know um but it was through the uh the
00:56:55
little things I do giving people time I
00:56:58
remember I I ranked someone who was
00:57:00
sick they asked a friend to ask me if I
00:57:03
could bring them and
00:57:05
I you know done it and the friend rang
00:57:09
me back the next week
00:57:13
unbelievable she's smiling she's happy
00:57:16
she's like she's won the
00:57:18
lotto and I always make a point of
00:57:20
getting back to people a guy a guy
00:57:22
approached me the other day to send a
00:57:24
message to A kids football team and I
00:57:26
never done it cuz my memory and you know
00:57:28
I'd have been scrolling through my phone
00:57:30
this morning trying to find that message
00:57:31
and I can't find it and it's worrying me
00:57:33
you know oh you need to be you need to
00:57:36
be kinder to yourself no no but there's
00:57:38
a discipline it's a discipline you have
00:57:40
disciplines and I I pride myself in
00:57:43
getting back and he's he's entitled to
00:57:45
that I did bring him back but you know
00:57:48
yeah I've got to do what he want me to
00:57:50
do and I'll sit down later today and see
00:57:53
if I can find it yeah oh good on you
00:57:55
good on you and um yeah I picked you up
00:57:57
from the fury so you live on you live on
00:57:59
how long have you lived on W hickey
00:58:00
don't live there oh you don't I'm there
00:58:03
80% of the time and we have a home in
00:58:06
Buck's Beach as well yes but I love it I
00:58:09
call why hickey Paradise yeah oh it
00:58:11
really is it's a beautiful place had
00:58:12
homes here for 50 years yeah yeah um I I
00:58:17
was on holiday a number of years ago
00:58:19
this was in in January and I I I me me
00:58:21
me and JJ we were married at the time we
00:58:23
were in Cuba so we there's Wi-Fi or
00:58:25
anything and then we I went to Cuba as
00:58:26
well you're not the only person that
00:58:28
been to Cuba I went to Cuba with Phil
00:58:31
gford and Fidel Castro was just getting
00:58:33
a bit crook Helen Clark was the Prime
00:58:35
Minister and I knew a lot of the labor
00:58:37
ministers and I tried to get an audience
00:58:39
with some federal Castro and uh the
00:58:42
reason being my dad used to get the
00:58:44
people's voice paper but he wasn't a
00:58:47
Como but he you know he used to breed
00:58:49
the paper because he was a great Union
00:58:50
man and so uh I couldn't get it but it
00:58:54
was a great trip me and Phil had a great
00:58:56
time I didn't learn you know what I
00:58:57
learned out of that trip how much you
00:58:59
learn reading Phil knew everything about
00:59:01
the place I said know all this film he
00:59:03
said I read about it yeah like we stayed
00:59:05
in the the pont's old home right on the
00:59:08
water and it was oh magnificent and pH
00:59:12
read it you know and that's why we
00:59:13
stayed there yeah I I loved Cuba so much
00:59:16
that that wasn't a flex though saying
00:59:17
I've been to Cuba the point was um you a
00:59:20
big noting
00:59:23
mate I'm not a SE what what can I bring
00:59:26
up I've been to Cuba [ __ ] he's been to
00:59:28
Cuba as well um no no no the point I was
00:59:31
making is we were um out of out of out
00:59:33
of touch with what's happening on home
00:59:35
uh what's happening back at home and
00:59:36
then as soon as I got back to the States
00:59:38
and was on Wi-Fi there was um you were
00:59:40
blowing up with a there was like a a
00:59:42
racism incident on wcky island I I felt
00:59:45
compelled to like message you cuz I um
00:59:48
that that made me so sad when was that
00:59:50
like 2017 2018 you made a joke to
00:59:53
someone yeah so you make a
00:59:56
joke there was a group of girls ladies
01:00:00
and they'd been drinking and they wanted
01:00:03
to talk to me they were like this to me
01:00:04
so I went over and talked to them and I
01:00:07
said just by the way we've got a
01:00:09
sergeant on the island and he's really
01:00:11
hot on Dr Driving she said I'm tongue
01:00:14
and Defender and I can do what I like
01:00:15
and I said yes and it's a white man
01:00:19
Island as well and the aswell got taken
01:00:23
out and she went straight home and
01:00:25
posted you know she was posted thing on
01:00:27
there and there's no question I got
01:00:29
hammered no question yeah I felt I felt
01:00:31
really bad for you because I can say
01:00:33
this there were some very racist
01:00:34
comments made to me as well okay but out
01:00:37
of every negative there's a positive
01:00:40
tamama come out and supported me now if
01:00:42
anyone could have bagged
01:00:44
me with credibility was Tam ETI he's a
01:00:48
pro mate you know but he come out and
01:00:50
supported me yeah so I rang him a few
01:00:52
weeks to find out why and I won't go
01:00:54
with the detail tell but the what us he
01:00:55
did and then there was another guy on
01:00:57
social media an island guy from uh uh
01:01:01
mangry and
01:01:03
um he said so you think he's a racist
01:01:06
well I'm a Samoan he said and I rang
01:01:10
him I rang the Mad Butcher stopped to
01:01:14
speak to him and he said it goes like
01:01:17
this good afternoon M butcher speaking
01:01:20
uh I want to speak to the real man
01:01:21
butcher you got the real man butcher no
01:01:23
no I want to speak to the Real Mad
01:01:25
Butcher you got the [ __ ] real Mad
01:01:27
Butcher and he said I told him that my
01:01:30
daughter's sick and I needed to
01:01:31
fundraise and I didn't know how to do it
01:01:33
and uh he said to me you better come
01:01:35
down straight away and he said
01:01:38
uh you'll be too busy to see me and he
01:01:42
said to me in a Gruff voice he said
01:01:44
listen mate if I'm too busy to help
01:01:46
someone with a sick child I'm not worth
01:01:50
knowing he came down and my my office
01:01:53
was a 10 shed in the back backyard at
01:01:56
the shop at Messi Road and uh he come in
01:01:58
and we had a talk and I told him how to
01:02:01
do it and I said I'm going to give you
01:02:02
some meat vouches and you'll turn them
01:02:05
into how I told them how to turn them in
01:02:08
and I gave them a few tips and he
01:02:12
said where are all the other Polynesians
01:02:15
that have he's helped and I know there's
01:02:16
plenty where are you the tide come out
01:02:19
the tide come out yeah what's when when
01:02:22
something like that happens she had to
01:02:23
take that com down yeah were you um yeah
01:02:27
I me I mean that was mean it feels like
01:02:29
it was ban like she was making banter
01:02:31
about being a mold in the PS that come
01:02:32
with that and then you and then um yeah
01:02:34
did Susan devoy piss you off like she
01:02:36
was the race relation counselor at the
01:02:37
time and she first of all came out and
01:02:38
said oh a mad Butch is the least racist
01:02:41
person I know and then she no no no no
01:02:43
no Susan the boy is a good friend yeah
01:02:47
but she was told by her superiors that
01:02:51
that was inappropriate for her to do
01:02:52
that but she had already done it so it
01:02:54
was okay yeah no I won't have a bad word
01:02:57
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
01:03:03
know you're big enough and ugly enough
01:03:04
to look after yourself but I thought I
01:03:05
got I got a message to this guy because
01:03:07
m i I found it heartbreaking and because
01:03:09
you you have done so much for um moldy
01:03:12
and Pacific communities my family and me
01:03:14
went through some bad times yeah did you
01:03:16
no question oh yeah very that's rough
01:03:18
there's an outpouring of support like I
01:03:20
know Monte and a bunch of the Warriors
01:03:22
yeah let me let me say this there's two
01:03:25
sides to racism the European then the
01:03:28
Mary side and I got that Mary side big
01:03:31
time you know but it's dead and buried
01:03:34
she had to take her thing down because
01:03:36
she got so much hate M you know and um
01:03:40
yeah it's over and done with we move on
01:03:44
yeah yeah I mean it was horrible list
01:03:47
how was your mental health in that time
01:03:48
so you not good to be faar
01:03:52
really some will be watching this
01:03:54
someone just be listening he's currently
01:03:55
waving his uh one inz voone flag
01:03:58
Warriors flag around yeah yeah is that
01:04:01
one of the toughest things you've you've
01:04:03
you've been through oh yeah no question
01:04:05
it it really tested our
01:04:08
family I never forget on the night my
01:04:12
wife would be the most pled woman to
01:04:14
anyone yeah she wanted to fight the lady
01:04:17
not her the mother
01:04:20
and they were from a bad family and my
01:04:23
wife would have got killed you know but
01:04:26
that's that's how bad it was yeah but
01:04:29
you know I have to choose my words
01:04:32
carefully now you know yeah were you um
01:04:35
you know you're you're such a you're
01:04:36
such a nice man and you're so trusting
01:04:38
of
01:04:39
people something like that happens where
01:04:42
you know someone takes to social media
01:04:43
and you know sort of misrepresents you
01:04:46
really I mean yeah it's tough it's tough
01:04:48
when you're a trusting person oh that
01:04:50
was very hard I mean the the fact is
01:04:55
she cut out as well and the media cut
01:04:59
that out as well and there's a few
01:05:02
stories but that I won't go into but I
01:05:04
know how the herald tried to bury me on
01:05:07
that someone there didn't like me you
01:05:09
know so I don't buy the herald very
01:05:11
often
01:05:13
now yeah um yeah in your in your book
01:05:17
I've been flicking through your book how
01:05:19
long ago did that come out by the way
01:05:20
I've still got on my for 15 years don't
01:05:22
know what a ride mate yeah
01:05:24
you're good mate number one seller
01:05:26
around the world
01:05:28
no he wrote it you see the thing about
01:05:31
my book Phil gford knew me he's one of
01:05:33
my best
01:05:34
friends see the guy Lance I talk about
01:05:37
he's one of my best friends sitting here
01:05:39
now good Lance Phil's a different
01:05:42
guy we don't see each other a lot but
01:05:44
we're there if we need each other and we
01:05:46
see we seeare secrets you know yeah and
01:05:50
he wrote it so he kept he knew me so he
01:05:53
he put that in words yeah he wrote a
01:05:55
good job yeah yeah there's there's a a
01:05:57
part in that book where you um you talk
01:05:59
about business being really tough in the
01:06:01
'90s and there was like a time there
01:06:03
where you were just working non-stop
01:06:04
just trying to keep your head above
01:06:06
water and uh you you you thought about
01:06:09
suicide do you remember that p no I
01:06:11
can't remember that P yeah I was going
01:06:13
to eat one of those vegetarian
01:06:17
sausages how did he die now like I said
01:06:21
to you at the start my memory is not as
01:06:23
good as it used to be some things I
01:06:26
remember clearly you know other things I
01:06:31
remember the day I met
01:06:32
Lance I was doing a there was a phone
01:06:35
box at the beach at o Tangy one of those
01:06:37
steel boxes yeah yeah and uh I was doing
01:06:40
a phone out to Alis Wy he was driving
01:06:43
the local bus and he was parked right
01:06:45
outside and I uh done my thing with
01:06:49
Alice Wy and then walked out and he said
01:06:52
you're not the Mad Butcher I said yeah
01:06:54
next thing he's in my place having a cup
01:06:56
of them we've been friends ever since
01:06:57
how long ago was that uh maybe 55 years
01:06:59
ago yeah are you joking yeah really yeah
01:07:03
how old are you Lance 71 71 [ __ ] he
01:07:05
looks good for 71 doesn't he look he's
01:07:08
got a cool p pumers on some some like
01:07:11
like kids jeans from howenstein yeah
01:07:14
look at 71 he he stole those
01:07:18
shoes does does um does that make you
01:07:22
jealous like you know you were in your
01:07:24
late 70s you fell over just before and
01:07:26
you got Lance looking like look at looks
01:07:27
like a skater no I'm very very grateful
01:07:30
to have him as a friend very grateful
01:07:33
yeah does been through some tough times
01:07:35
together yeah and we've been there for
01:07:37
each other you know that's uh yeah and
01:07:42
yeah my dog's sitting on the sofa next
01:07:44
to him at the moment resting his head on
01:07:45
Lance's thigh yeah that dog's a good
01:07:47
judge of character more like a cat that
01:07:50
dog yeah not a lot of meat on him yeah
01:07:53
oh
01:07:54
um does it get harder when you I mean
01:07:57
this this is the perk of getting older I
01:07:58
guess you see you see people drop off
01:08:00
around you and you must you mentioned
01:08:03
before like you're the youngest of seven
01:08:04
and everyone in your family's died I
01:08:07
mean does does that get
01:08:08
easier dealing dealing with grief and
01:08:11
dealing with death and seeing people
01:08:13
drop off no it's just it's just life you
01:08:15
just got to go you got to ride the wave
01:08:18
you know and be you got to be thankful
01:08:20
for every day you look at Daniel
01:08:21
Anderson goes body surfing and now is a
01:08:24
wheelchairing you
01:08:26
know you know life life can be great and
01:08:29
life can be cruel mate you know and you
01:08:31
just got to move along and get along
01:08:33
with it you
01:08:35
know yeah how how were you through the
01:08:38
lockdown period uh I wonder like I
01:08:41
didn't mind the lockdown because the
01:08:42
choice the choice of losing your memory
01:08:45
you can't bloody
01:08:46
remember no because like lockdown was
01:08:49
fine for me because I'm I'm I'm
01:08:51
reasonably introverted I guess so I
01:08:53
don't mind staying at home but you're
01:08:54
such a social social person did did did
01:08:56
you find that period tough I truly can't
01:08:59
remember really oh truly that's the joys
01:09:01
of lost see here again I said before you
01:09:04
turn negatives into positive yeah the
01:09:07
negativ lose your memory the positive I
01:09:09
can't remember those bad days yeah you
01:09:11
know there are some things I remember
01:09:12
but some things I don't like meeting
01:09:14
Lance clear as a day but other things
01:09:18
like you know also there stories that
01:09:20
you've told in the in the past hour or
01:09:21
so with me like your recall in terms of
01:09:23
names and stuff it's
01:09:25
incredible I think it's really good
01:09:29
you're sucking up to me now mate no no
01:09:31
no I'm being genuine about it like you
01:09:33
talk about someone you met at a bloody
01:09:35
League game 50 years ago you remember
01:09:37
their first and last name oh you
01:09:39
remember special people there's been
01:09:41
some really special people you
01:09:45
know old guy Barry ins as a very good
01:09:48
friend of mine Derek is another good
01:09:50
mate you know Barry's endource pastor
01:09:53
away unfortunately dereck's a good guy I
01:09:56
got to ring him I keep saying to myself
01:09:58
I got to ring him then I bloody
01:10:00
[Music]
01:10:01
forget what I do I get people to text me
01:10:04
now cuz I go through my text every day
01:10:05
yeah yeah you did that to me the other
01:10:07
day when you agreed to come on the
01:10:08
podcast you said text me to remind you
01:10:10
yeah which which which I did I didn't
01:10:11
mind um yeah is there ways around the
01:10:13
memory loss like do you just write more
01:10:15
notes for yourself or no just get people
01:10:17
to text me yeah okay I get people to
01:10:19
text me they say well I just do as I'm
01:10:21
telling you you know and are you still
01:10:24
dyslexic or did you yeah it's worse now
01:10:26
is it yeah it's worse so you you you
01:10:28
never did any sort of like treatment or
01:10:30
any sort of special tuition or education
01:10:32
to you've done all right haven't you
01:10:35
youve done okay how how do you how do
01:10:37
you do your your Facebook posts you're a
01:10:39
regular poster on Facebook just write
01:10:41
them know type them up right yeah but
01:10:44
there's nothing wrong with your with
01:10:45
your spelling or your writing well spell
01:10:48
check comes in that makes me look a
01:10:50
Dicky at times auto correct day it's
01:10:53
terrible that's but I need that no I get
01:10:57
by you know look
01:10:59
I I don't have a lot of
01:11:02
regrets I've done
01:11:04
some great things done some good things
01:11:08
met some beautiful people and uh I think
01:11:12
I've still got a few years in me
01:11:13
hopefully you know yeah as long as they
01:11:15
quality ain't as long as that quality is
01:11:17
oh yeah no no I said before you wouldn't
01:11:19
want to be you know yeah yeah yeah um
01:11:25
Yeah well yeah yeah I mean you you you
01:11:29
shouldn't have too many regrets like you
01:11:31
know um and I suppose part of the joy of
01:11:34
doing a podcast like this is um you know
01:11:36
you get to give someone the flowers
01:11:37
while they're still here to to receive
01:11:39
them it's not you know often people
01:11:40
don't know what a good bugger they wear
01:11:42
until they they die and then it's the uy
01:11:44
situation but [ __ ] man you've done so
01:11:46
much for so many people I
01:11:48
think the main thing is you know
01:11:52
remember the greatest give give your
01:11:54
time and I say to people quite often in
01:11:57
my Facebook why don't you ring someone
01:11:59
today and make their day CU a phone call
01:12:01
I told you before about the lady I run
01:12:03
you know yeah just maybe ring them you
01:12:06
know and some days I'll ring four or
01:12:08
five people go through my phone just
01:12:10
ring people because I forget I ring them
01:12:12
you know just for a chat or just to say
01:12:15
hello how are you you know what I mean I
01:12:17
can be short and sharp you know what I
01:12:19
mean sometimes um and live a good life
01:12:23
you know and treat people how you want
01:12:24
to be treated yourself it's pretty
01:12:26
simple you know if you jerk if you jerk
01:12:29
people off or try to rip people off it's
01:12:32
going to come back and AR you you know
01:12:34
and I well you got to look yourself in
01:12:35
the Maru anyway don't you if you do that
01:12:36
I do cuz I'm a good-looking
01:12:39
guy oh you need to get those eyes
01:12:41
checked I reckon no no I've got very
01:12:44
good Vision to be fair so you're you're
01:12:47
not you're not scared of
01:12:49
death no because you can't yeah you know
01:12:54
you you you don't look forward to it but
01:12:56
you know you just hope you go and you
01:12:58
don't end up being like a vegetable you
01:13:01
know what I mean yeah yeah yeah that's
01:13:03
my that's the thing that does scare me
01:13:05
you know like our friend now you don't
01:13:08
know what's going on you
01:13:10
know it's a terrible thought let keep it
01:13:13
positive no negativity I told you yeah
01:13:18
and and when you when when you do
01:13:20
eventually die and hopefully it's not
01:13:21
for a long time yet how how how do you
01:13:22
want to be remember I couldn't give a
01:13:24
[ __ ] cuz I was
01:13:27
here yeah so you're not worried about
01:13:29
like Legacy or anything
01:13:31
like I've done what I I've done what I
01:13:34
want to do because I wanted to do it not
01:13:36
for
01:13:37
recognition I don't I don't go out
01:13:41
singing what I do to people a lot of
01:13:43
people wouldn't know what I do you know
01:13:46
yeah i' agree with that but there must
01:13:48
be thousands of new zealanders that have
01:13:49
your number like you you've given your
01:13:51
number out to so many people you look
01:13:53
American people I I I took out the other
01:13:57
day I didn't post it to get accolades I
01:14:00
posted it to share the love to show
01:14:02
other people what they can do you know
01:14:05
you don't have to give people a million
01:14:07
dollars but it was just an endorsement
01:14:10
of my
01:14:12
saying your time giving time is your
01:14:15
most valuable and they really enjoyed it
01:14:18
you know uh I I'm hoping we'll stay in
01:14:22
touch you know
01:14:24
uh I've contacted her on I think she's
01:14:26
on Instagram yeah yeah and uh like I
01:14:30
learned something I I didn't like to ask
01:14:31
them if they had children because they
01:14:32
said they' been married for x amount of
01:14:34
years and so I was going to say how many
01:14:37
kids you got well better not because
01:14:38
they moments I don't know you know
01:14:40
anyhow they've got four lovely girls I
01:14:42
saw a photo on her Instagram page you
01:14:44
know yeah he just do what you want to do
01:14:47
and get out there to M my oh can't say
01:14:51
that one media one go go one
01:14:55
media it's always going to be bloody
01:14:56
Mount smart isn't it no you got to be
01:14:59
loyal to the sponsors you know yeah yeah
01:15:01
that's true you got to you know I mean
01:15:04
I've been very loyal to one New Zealand
01:15:08
uh know that's New Zealand voone for
01:15:11
voone and I I still you know voter phone
01:15:14
comes up in my head all the time yeah
01:15:16
but you can't as I said to Jason that
01:15:19
runs voter Jason Paris yeah yeah I said
01:15:21
to him mate you can't
01:15:23
I've been saying it for 10 years or
01:15:25
whatever you know it's it's going to
01:15:27
slip out now again so just fight the
01:15:29
bullet well it takes it takes time I
01:15:31
like I'm I'm um I'm old enough to
01:15:33
remember when uh it was Bell South it
01:15:34
was Bell South and then they switched to
01:15:36
vone I can't remember that yeah it was B
01:15:40
South and then V and now it's one I
01:15:41
think you're lying to me I think you're
01:15:42
making enough to make me feel awful yes
01:15:45
yeah well I could lie to you you'll
01:15:47
forget about it in half an hour anyway
01:15:49
you can be quite nasty
01:15:52
mate is he Lance is he being serious is
01:15:55
he trolling
01:15:56
me threw his empty Coke bottle at me
01:15:59
yeah that's right Mad Butcher is a
01:16:01
litter
01:16:02
buug doesn't recycle either just put
01:16:04
this in the bin with all the other
01:16:05
rubbish I do recycle I've got a big
01:16:08
recycle B on my yardland yeah yes oh
01:16:12
well um yeah any any final words
01:16:15
anything you want to say to end with I
01:16:16
just wish you're well I hope the podcast
01:16:18
goes well you're a nice young guy you've
01:16:20
always been full of life you're very
01:16:22
blessed in a way you're you've always
01:16:25
got a bubbly personality and plenty of
01:16:27
you know go you and uh that's a
01:16:31
blessing I heard there was an old black
01:16:33
speaking one day and he said it's nice
01:16:35
to have the May butcher in the room he's
01:16:36
blessed and a guy from the audience said
01:16:40
he's an idiot but in a nice way not in a
01:16:42
rude way and he said he can talk to
01:16:46
anyone he said he's blessed he can talk
01:16:48
to anyone and he said I can't do that
01:16:51
and I thought about that that night and
01:16:53
and I thought yeah I suppose I am in a
01:16:54
way cuz I can because not everyone can
01:16:57
you know yeah that's that's true but but
01:16:59
you you have an ability to with um
01:17:01
authenticity as well like you don't
01:17:02
change you don't you don't change
01:17:04
depending on who you you're speaking to
01:17:06
I am I am what I am yeah what you see is
01:17:08
what you get in your case you know
01:17:10
you've got this very full-on personality
01:17:14
and you're full of life you you know you
01:17:16
around so that's good mate and just
01:17:18
enjoy it you know and make the most and
01:17:21
my last word to every body let's all
01:17:24
make an effort and share the love out
01:17:25
there and make New Zealand a better
01:17:26
place than it
01:17:28
is I think that's a great place to end
01:17:30
it sir Peter leech the M butcher thanks
01:17:33
so much for your time
01:17:34
today throwing just throwing me a pile
01:17:37
of warrior what is it Warrior posters
01:17:40
Warrior posters oh you didn't even get
01:17:42
them bloody
01:17:44
signed hey you're not that good a friend
01:17:47
mate hey um thank you for your
01:17:50
friendship over the years you are
01:17:51
genuinely one of the one of the greatest
01:17:53
New Zealand is around and I can't thank
01:17:55
you enough for finally coming around and
01:17:57
doing this podcast today
01:17:59
[Music]
01:18:08
so

Podspun Insights

In this lively episode, the Mad Butcher, Sir Peter Leech, joins the podcast for a heartwarming and humorous conversation that spans decades of his life. From his humble beginnings in Wellington to becoming a beloved figure in New Zealand, he shares stories that are as entertaining as they are insightful. The episode kicks off with a nostalgic catch-up, where the Mad Butcher reflects on his rise to fame and the joy he finds in connecting with people. With a twinkle in his eye, he recounts how he became the Mad Butcher, a name that resonates with many New Zealanders, and how his passion for rugby league led him to sponsor local teams and become a cherished community figure.

Listeners are treated to anecdotes about his family, his love for food, and the importance of positivity in life. The Mad Butcher’s infectious energy shines through as he discusses his social media presence, where he shares his culinary adventures, and the joy it brings to his followers. He also touches on the challenges of aging, including health scares and memory loss, but maintains a light-hearted approach, reminding everyone to cherish each day.

As the conversation flows, the Mad Butcher reflects on his relationships, particularly with his wife Janice, and the deep bond they share after over 50 years of marriage. His stories are peppered with humor and wisdom, making it clear that he values connection and community above all else. This episode is a delightful mix of laughter, nostalgia, and heartfelt moments that leave listeners feeling uplifted and inspired.

Badges

This episode stands out for the following:

  • 90
    Most heartwarming
  • 90
    Best overall
  • 85
    Most inspiring
  • 85
    Best performance

Episode Highlights

  • The Mad Butcher's Journey
    Peter shares his journey from a butcher to a beloved personality.
    “What you see is what you get.”
    @ 02m 49s
    October 01, 2023
  • Life Lessons at 79
    At 79, Peter reflects on gratitude and the joy of life.
    “Every day is a bonus, you know?”
    @ 07m 14s
    October 01, 2023
  • The Secret to a Long Marriage
    After 55 years of marriage, the key is communication and tolerance.
    “What do you reckon the secret is?”
    @ 18m 43s
    October 01, 2023
  • Starting a Business Journey
    A chance encounter leads to a life-changing business opportunity.
    “He had faith in me and that’s how I got started.”
    @ 22m 09s
    October 01, 2023
  • Community and Rugby League
    Sponsoring a local rugby league club brings a sense of community and connection.
    “I got on well with my sort of people.”
    @ 30m 13s
    October 01, 2023
  • A Humbling Experience
    Reflecting on the honor of being part of iconic moments in Kiwi rugby history.
    “That was very humbling.”
    @ 37m 57s
    October 01, 2023
  • Dying on the Operating Table
    A near-death experience leads to reflections on life and gratitude.
    “You got to enjoy every day while you can.”
    @ 46m 58s
    October 01, 2023
  • The Gift of Time
    The importance of giving time to others is emphasized as a life lesson.
    “The greatest gift you can give anyone is your time.”
    @ 55m 10s
    October 01, 2023
  • The Importance of Kindness
    A reminder to be kinder to ourselves and others, especially in tough times.
    “You need to be kinder to yourself.”
    @ 57m 36s
    October 01, 2023
  • Life's Dual Nature
    Reflecting on how life can be both beautiful and challenging.
    “Life can be great and life can be cruel.”
    @ 01h 08m 29s
    October 01, 2023
  • Valuing Time
    Emphasizing the significance of giving your time to others.
    “Give your time, giving time is your most valuable.”
    @ 01h 14m 15s
    October 01, 2023
  • The Power of Authenticity
    Emphasizing the importance of being true to oneself and not changing for others.
    “I am what I am, what you see is what you get.”
    @ 01h 17m 06s
    October 01, 2023

Episode Quotes

Key Moments

  • Sharing Positivity02:07
  • Business Challenges11:43
  • Rugby League Sponsorship30:13
  • Gratitude50:21
  • Life's Cruelty1:08:29
  • Time is Valuable1:14:15
  • Authenticity1:17:06
  • Spread Love1:17:24

Words per Minute Over Time

Vibes Breakdown

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