Today I’m going to share an iconic bit of New Zealand television history. As far as televisual Kiwiana goes this is right up there with Thingee’s eye and little Ted’s severed head. Well okay it might be a little below them on the awesomeness scale, but it is […]
Happy New Year! 2013 has arrived and I thought this might be a good opportunity to take a look at what historical anniversaries are coming up this year. Some I hope to blog about in more detail over the next 12 months in-between my regular ephemeral broadcasts. First […]
Time for a History Geek first, I’m blogging while traveling by bus from Christchurch to Dunedin. I haven’t used this Word Press app on my ipad before so apologies in advance for any poor formatting or embarrassing autocorrected text. So what is the topic of choice for my […]
In my last post I shared a Christmas card sent by a New Zealand artillery gunner from the Battle of El Alamein and by comparison made light of our own silly season stresses. I apologize. I know that it can be a crazy time of year so I […]
To mark the month of Movember I’ve got some prickly profile shots to share with you from my collection of 19th century Otago photographs, followed by a facial hair inspired parody written by a largely forgotten New Zealand poet. Sadly, the photographs I’m about to share are orphans […]
A few months back I shared this post where I claimed that every envelope has a story to tell. Well today I’m going to share another envelope with a completely different story, one that begins sixty years ago on a remote island at the bottom of the world. […]
Guy Fawkes Day is among New Zealand’s most bizarre commemorations. For my international readers, here it is the only time of year when anyone of a “responsible” age can buy and let off fireworks. The reason for such merriment – to commemorate this foiled plot to blow up […]
Here at History Geek there are two things to celebrate today. It is exactly six months since I started this blog and I’ve also been nominated for another award! My first goal with History Geek was to aim for 12 months so I’m exactly halfway and so far […]
Tempests, waterspouts, thunderstorms and hurricanes have throughout the centuries struck fear into the hearts of many a brave sailor. The image of a tall ship battling against the relentless elements will be familiar to fans of maritime historical fiction such as works by Patrick O’Brian and C.S. Forester. […]
I started this post as an innocent attempt to share a beautiful vintage postcard of Wellington but somehow ended up giving myself a crash course on the introduction of electric street lighting to New Zealand cities. It is a subject that proved to be rather illuminating… First, here […]
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