The official Wizard of New Zealand, perhaps the only state-appointed wizard in the world, has been cast from the public payroll, spelling the end to a 23-year legacy.
The Wizard, whose real name is Ian Brackenbury Channell, 88, had been contracted to Christchurch City Council for the past two decades to promote the city through “acts of wizardry and other wizard-like services” at a cost of NZ$16,000 (US$11,280) a year.
He has been paid a total of NZ$368,000.
Photo: AFP
The Wizard, who was born in England, began performing acts of wizardry and entertainment in public spaces shortly after arriving in New Zealand in 1976.
When the council originally tried to stop him, the public protested.
In 1982, the New Zealand Art Gallery Directors’ Association said that he had become a living work of art, and then, in 1990, then-New Zealand prime minister Mike Moore asked that he consider becoming the Wizard of New Zealand.
“I am concerned that your wizardry is not at the disposal of the entire nation,” Moore wrote on his official letterhead. “I suggest therefore that you should urgently consider my suggestion that you become the Wizard of New Zealand, Antarctica and relevant offshore areas. No doubt there will be implications in the area of spells, blessings, curses and other supernatural matters that are beyond the competence of mere prime ministers.”
Since then he has performed in Christchurch, rain-danced in New Zealand and Australia during droughts and was awarded the Queen’s Service Medal in the 2009 Queen’s Birthday Honors.
However, he has also encountered controversy with off-color comments about women.
In an April screening of Channel Three’s comedy current affairs show New Zealand Today hosted by Guy Williams, the Wizard said he liked to tease women by telling them they were devious, and said “they use cunning to get men who are thick.”
“I love women, I forgive them all the time, I’ve never struck one yet. Never strike a woman because they bruise too easily is the first thing, and they’ll tell the neighbors and their friends, and then you’re in big trouble,” he said.
The council said it had sent the Wizard a letter thanking him for his services to Christchurch over the past decades and informing him that it was closing the book on his contract, council spokeswoman Lynn McClelland said.
It was a difficult decision, but the Wizard would “forever be a part of [Christchurch’s] history,” McClelland said.
The city is embarking on new tourism and promotional direction that will reflect its diverse communities and “showcase a vibrant, diverse, modern city that is attractive to residents, domestic and international visitors, new businesses and skilled migrant workers,” she said.
The Wizard said that the council had decided to stop paying him because he did not fit “the vibes” of the city.
He said he was a provocateur.
“It implies that I am boring and old, but there is nobody else anything like me in Christchurch,” he said. “It’s just they don’t like me because they are boring old bureaucrats and everyone likes me and no one likes them.”
The Wizard is a well-known face to Christchurch residents, but in the past few years, his presence has diminished and sightings have become rare.
He says that is because the council has made him invisible and would not respond to his suggestions to improve tourism.
“When they canceled this honorarium, everyone got furious, they have awakened a hornet’s nest here, it’s hilarious,” he said. “The next few months are going to be real fun.”
Yemen’s separatist leader has vowed to keep working for an independent state in the country’s south, in his first social media post since he disappeared earlier this month after his group briefly seized swathes of territory. Aidarous al-Zubaidi’s United Arab Emirates (UAE)-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC) forces last month captured two Yemeni provinces in an offensive that was rolled back by Saudi strikes and Riyadh’s allied forces on the ground. Al-Zubaidi then disappeared after he failed to board a flight to Riyadh for talks earlier this month, with Saudi Arabia accusing him of fleeing to Abu Dhabi, while supporters insisted he was
The Chinese Embassy in Manila yesterday said it has filed a diplomatic protest against a Philippine Coast Guard spokesman over a social media post that included cartoonish images of Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). Philippine Coast Guard spokesman Jay Tarriela and an embassy official had been trading barbs since last week over issues concerning the disputed South China Sea. The crucial waterway, which Beijing claims historic rights to despite an international ruling that its assertion has no legal basis, has been the site of repeated clashes between Chinese and Philippine vessels. Tarriela’s Facebook post on Wednesday included a photo of him giving a
‘MOBILIZED’: While protesters countered ICE agents, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz activated the state’s National Guard to ‘support the rights of Minnesotans’ to assemble Hundreds of counterprotesters drowned out a far-right activist’s attempt to hold a small rally in support of US President Donald Trump’s latest immigration crackdown in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Saturday, as the governor’s office announced that National Guard troops were mobilized and ready to assist law enforcement, although not yet deployed to city streets. There have been protests every day since the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ramped up immigration enforcement in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul by bringing in more than 2,000 federal officers. Conservative influencer Jake Lang organized an anti-Islam, anti-Somali and pro-US Immigration and Customs Enforcement
NASA on Saturday rolled out its towering Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft as it began preparations for its first crewed mission to the Moon in more than 50 years. The maneuver, which takes up to 12 hours, would allow the US space agency to begin a string of tests for the Artemis 2 mission, which could blast off as early as Feb. 6. The immense orange and white SLS rocket, and the Orion vessel were slowly wheeled out of the Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, and painstakingly moved 6.5km to Launch Pad 39B. If the
RSS