Real Life With John Cowan

English quizzer and television personality Anne Hegerty has been a "chaser" on the ITV game show The Chase as "The Governess" since 2010, and was a contestant on the 2018 ITV reality show I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! After studying linguistics at university, Anne did a journalism course and worked for various local papers. She was a freelance copy editor and proofreader before starring on...

Michael studied philosophy, politics and economics at the University of Oxford and then became an investment banker, before retraining as a doctor at the Royal Free Hospital in London. After graduating from medical school and becoming disillusioned by psychiatry, he joined the BBC as a trainee assistant producer in 1985.Over the next 25 years, Michael made numerous science and history documentarie...

Television presenter, director and writer Jason Gunn had his first taste of the entertainment industry aged 17, when director John Banas cast him in the lead role of Adrian Mole in the touring musical The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13¾. He was offered a six-week contract with the children's department at TVNZ, with the contract rolling over for 14 years. He has hosted Dancing With The Stars...

Cardinal John Dew was born in Waipawa and attended Catholic schools through high school. He studied philosophy at Holy Name Seminary in Christchurch and theology at Holy Cross Seminary in Dunedin. John was ordained a priest in 1976 and became auxiliary bishop of Wellington in 1995. He was appointed as the sixth Roman Catholic Archbishop of Wellington and the Metropolitan of New Zealand in 2005. Po...

Born in South Africa, Rehette Stoltz came to New Zealand 18 years ago on her OE and never left after she fell in love with the country. Stoltz was first elected to council in 2010 and was the highest polling city ward councillor in 2013 and 2016. She served two terms as deputy mayor, before becoming Mayor of Tairāwhiti Gisborne in 2019. Flooding in Tairāwhiti Gisborne over recent years has thrust...

Five-time Paralympic medalist and Dunedin-born ski champion, Adam Hall is one of New Zealand's greatest athletes. Despite being diagnosed at birth with spina bifida, he began skiing at age six. A member of the Cardrona NZ National Adaptive Ski Team since 2005, Adam Hall splits his training base between Winter Park in the USA and Cardrona Alpine Resort in New Zealand. Adam Hall has represented New...

While studying at NZ Broadcasting School, Melissa landed an internship and then a job at Prime News'in 1999. In 2001 Stokes moved to Breakfast as the Christchurch reporter, and in 2004 she headed to Auckland to report for TV One's 6pm bulletin. For two years, she was based in London as 1 News' Europe Correspondent based in London, covering stories such as the conflicts in Israel and Syria. She beg...

Grant Bayldon is the National Director of World Vision New Zealand, leading the organisation’ development and humanitarian work in more than 25 countries as well as fundraising and advocacy work. He previously worked at Tearfund, Oxfam and Amnesty International. Grant lives in Auckland with his wife Helen and their four children. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nicola Willis is a List MP based in Wellington, having entered Parliament in April 2018, and being reelected in October 2020. She is National’s spokesperson for Housing and Urban Development and RMA Reform, and is a member of the Environment Select Committee. She was a senior advisor to Prime Minister John Key during his first term in Government. Nicola attended Victoria University of Wellington a...

Featured in both Forbes and Fast Company, Juliet is a renowned keynote speaker, tough-love business advisor to the Fortune 500, and founder and CEO of an efficiency firm, Juliet Funt Group. Her clients include Google, Vans, Costco, Nike, Pepsi, Spotify, ESPN, American Express and Wells Fargo. Juliet lives in Oregon with husband James and three young sons. Her book A Minute to Think: Reclaim Creati...

An Auckland native, musician Jamie McDell spent part of her youth living aboard her family’s yacht with her father, sailing champion Terry McDell. It was during this time that she learned to play guitar, singing John Denver and Jimmy Buffett songs alongside her parents. In her early teens, McDell began to upload her music to YouTube and gained a fan base through social media. At the age of 16, she...

Born to Samoan immigrants, Filipo grew up in Huntly before moving with his family to Auckland and then Dunedin where he played rugby for Otago Boys' High School alongside future All Black's Captain Richie McCaw. Filipo's 13 year career as a professional rugby player saw him playing for The Highlanders, Japanese team Ricoh Blackrams, and facing the All Blacks as the captain for Manu Samoa. With a M...

A barrister by training, during his 15-year law career Clive Anderson begun stand-up comedy and scriptwriting, before rising to fame as the host of Whose Line Is It Anyway? on radio and then television. Winner of the British Comedy Award in 1991, Clive went on to front ten series of his own show Clive Anderson Talks Back and four series of Clive Anderson All Talk. Alongside anthropologist Mary-Ann...

Dame Anne Salmond is a Professor at the University of Auckland and one of New Zealand's most prominent anthropologists and historians. She is the author of Hui: A Study of Māori Ceremonial Gatherings, Amiria: The Life Story of a Māori Woman, and Eruera: The Teachings of a Māori Elder (winner of a Wattie Book Award in 1981).Anne received the CBE for services to literature and the Māori people in 19...

Detective Sergeant Rob Lemoto grew up in Manurewa in Auckland and joined the police force in 1996. He was named as the host of crime show Police Ten 7 in 2014, replacing Graham Bell who had been at the helm for 12 years. In 2021, Rob started a new role as the officer in charge of Pāpāmoa Police Station, and was part of the Bay of Plenty Child Protection Team before the move. Rob lives with his wif...

Award-winning newsreader Niva Retimanu published a book in 2016 called Leading From Behind: Winning While Coming Last. The book documents Niva's remarkable mental and physical transformation, which took place as she became a marathon runner and turned her unhealthy lifestyle completely around. Niva is now co-hosting a new podcast discussing adversity and resilience alongside long-time friend and N...

Owner of The Tasting Shed (the Cuisine Magazine’s Best Restaurants of New Zealand and mentioned on Metro's Top 50 Restaurant list for the last five years), Ganesh has hosted his own television programmes on MTV Asia and ESPN for over a decade. He has also been featured on TVNZ’s Good Morning, Family Recipes, and Neighbourhood. Ganesh was the recipient for two years running of Metro Magazine’s Rest...

Rose was raised in Titirangi, Auckland, by her photographer father and artist mother. She studied Psychology and Linguistics at the University of Auckland. At the age of two, Rose began appearing in commercials and received the role of an angel in the film The Piano at age three. She has worked mainly for New Zealand television, from fantasy-based series like Maddigan's Quest to dramas such as Rud...

Tenor opera singer Simon O'Neill has snagged two Grammy nominations for Best Choral Performance and Best Engineered Album in Classical. Hailing from Ashburton, Simon received his musical training at the University of Otago and Victoria University, graduating with an honours degree in music. He received scholarships to the Juilliard Opera Center and the Manhattan School of Music, earning a Master o...

Born in Berkeley, California Karen studied ballet, acted in school plays, sang in the Baptist choir. She graduated from The University of California with bachelor degrees in 1965 in English and in Dramatic Art. She received a Fulbright Fellowship to the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art in London, and apprenticed at the Actor's Workshop of San Francisco in 1961–62. Karen played the role of...

Tim Faulkner is the General Manager and Head of Conservation at the Australia Reptile Park in New South Wales, and Aussie Ark, a charitable organisation focused on creating a long-term future for threatened Australian species. He won the Australian Geographic Australian Conservationist of the Year 2015.In 2012, Tim began to appear regularly on reality television show Bondi Vet and his own show Out...

Dame Cindy was born in Whangārei, the eldest of six children. She is of Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Hine, Ngāti Kahu and British descent, and was the first person in her family to achieve tertiary qualifications: a PhD in Social Policy and an MBA (Exec) in Business Administration. Much of Dame Cindy’s career has been in the tertiary education sector, holding leadership roles at Massey University, Victoria Univ...

Hon Grant Robertson was born in Palmerston North and lived in Hastings before his family settled in Dunedin. He studied politics at Otago University, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts with Honours, and was the President of the Otago University Students’ Association and Co-President of the New Zealand University Students Association. Grant joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade in 1997 w...

Bernard is a leading financial journalist and editor with over 23 years’ experience including roles with Reuters, the Financial Times Group and Fairfax Media. Bernard is a regular commentator on financial, economic and investment issues, regularly appearing on radio and television. He is host of the Spinoff podcast When the Facts Change. Bernard was heavily involved in the formation of Reuters UK,...

Himali is a family doctor who works in a busy Auckland general practice and in the prison system. She is also a well-known writer of short stories, essays, articles, flash fiction and poetry, and was the inaugural Verb Wellington Writers Resident in October 2020.Last month Himali's book The Unexpected Patient was released and tells stories of life, death and unforgettable clinical cases in vulnera...