My name is Lemuel Lyes and I grew up in the South Island of New Zealand.
My obsession with history started when I was very young. At the age of eight I was the proud owner of the world’s first postage stamp, the Penny Black. I relished trips to the big city where I could be found in collectables stores rummaging through jars of pennies looking for the elusive bust of King George III.
Like many teenagers I went off the rails, although in my case this involved staying up late at the local philatelic society or singeing my eyebrow while learning to fire a flintlock musket.
I emerged into my twenties as a shabby wannabe filmmaker armed with a broadcasting degree and a storage unit filled with antiques.
Things pretty much went downhill from there and now in my 30-somethings I work full time as an archive producer in the television industry, locating and licensing all sorts of film, video and photographs for use in documentary films. My work can be seen on National Geographic, Discovery Channel, History Channel, Travel Channel, A&E’s Biography Channel, TVNZ and many other networks.
Career highlights have included on site visits to archives in New Zealand, Australia and the United Kingdom and being listed among the illustrious company of the likes of Martin Scorsese as an award winner at the 2010 FOCAL International Archive Awards.
In my spare time I watch an unhealthy amount of historical television drama, travel when I can, dabble in stereoscopic photography and drool over eBay auctions that I can’t afford.
This blog is both an attempt to hone my writing skills and a very genuine effort to share some of my passion for the past.
Cool blog. Is their an archive listing of older posts somewhere? I couldn’t work out how to browse your posts. (My ephemera blog is http://mugshotsandmiscellaneous.wordpress.com/)
Thanks! Yes there should be an archive on the side, let me check to make sure it is working. Great to meet a fellow ephemera enthusiast, I’ll be sure to check out your blog!
Thanks Lemuel. I don’t know why I couldn’t find it first off. It was there all the time! Thanks for checking out my blog and your comments. NZ is one of my favourite places in the world. I lost count how many visits I had made after 8 times!
I jumped over here from the Rising to Gale blog and see there’s a crossover with my ever-increasing ‘history bent’ so will follow with interest!
Thanks so much – I hope you enjoy your time looking around! I too am a fan of the ‘Rising to Gale’ blog (a very apt title for this week I understand). There is a fantastic growing community of history bloggers here in New Zealand so I’m looking forward to seeing what the year brings! Thanks again for stopping by.
Have had such a good time reading these! Love the site. Cali misses you Lem!
Cheers! I miss Cali too! Was really awesome spending time with you all.
Some great material here!
Thank you very much! That means a lot, I’m a big fan of your work as well.