Alan Whicker at Rangi Ruru

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33094, 8 December 1972, Page 14

Alan Whicker at Rangi Ruru

Yorkshire Television’s roving commentator, Alan Whicker, arrived in Christchurch yesterday and when the sun finally came out in the afternoon he and his camera team moved to Rangi Ruru School for a cosy chat on the lawn with a dozen or so of the girls.

The conservatively-dressed, urbane man so familiar to New Zealand televiewers said he was enjoying his present visit. In a series of six programmes on the South Pacific the original idea was to have one on New Zealand, but now there might be a second and perhaps a third. “When I left Britain I had no preconceived ideas about

the series but since arriving here ideas are taking shape and I think we will have no problem getting enough material for any extra programmes,” he said. Mr Whicker and his team will be in Christchurch until Monday or Tuesday and will remain in New Zealand until Christmas. One thing seems sure, and that is that the Commonwealth Games preparation will not be featured. "These programmes will be seen in Britain in February and the Games are not until 1974. The series does not deal with news; they are more concerned with people. “I am not doing features on, say, Auckland and Christchurch or wherever else we visit. What will eventually be seen will be culled from the over-all visit to New Zealand. We are just looking at

New Zealand life in general.” He said that he and the team had done quite a lot of aerial work as he believed that New Zealand had made more use of aircraft than any other country in the world except Alaska. In his session with the Rangi Ruru pupils Mr Whicker was interested in their ambitions and how these might differ from those of their mothers. Later he talked with the school’s principal (Miss W. L. Anderson).

Since he and his team moved into the South Pacific in October filming had been quite hectic but the hardest work was yet to come — when he gets home and begins the job of writing the series.

“This really is hard work and it will take about two months to complete," he said. Mr Whicker expects to see

the Prime Minister (Mr Kirk) but added that it would not involve a hard news interview as such. He also intends talking with a number of English people who have settled in New Zealand. Asked to which part of the globe his next assignment would take him, Mr Whicker said he never planned until current work was just about completed. When not interviewing or filming Mr Whicker fills in much of his spare time on research needed for the series. That was what he did last night, for example. After the Christchurch filming is over the team will move, to Queenstown and Mount Cook to observe the skifield flights. The photograph shows Mr Whicker talking to Miss Anderson.