Newspaper Article 2013 – Sir Paul always loved to play to an audience

Sir Paul always loved to play to an audience

By Peter Beaven

Sir Paul Scott Holmes. What an extraordinary man. What an extraordinary life. A life lived at full throttle. And I was lucky enough to share 50 years of it.

Paul Holmes and I first met in the corridor of B Block at Karamu High School where we shared adjoining lockers.

Even then he had a twinkle in his eye and a quirky sense of humour. Before long we were firm friends. In fact there were three of us who became lifetime mates, the other being Mike Williams, later to become President of the Labour Party and their chief strategist for many years.

Going to school in those days with such lively company was always something to keenly anticipate. Looking back we were all a bit nerdy, but eager to learn about the world around us. Even then Paul loved an audience. He participated in school and Group Theatre plays, the school debating team and speech competitions with considerable energy and no little success. These laid a solid foundation for the career that soon unfolded.

Nineteen sixty eight marked our first year at Victoria University. All three of us found accommodation at Weir House, a boarding hostel overlooking the cable car. Paul and I shared a room. I watched a boy turning into a young man as we learned about a world beyond the Tukituki valley. That year also marked our first cigarettes, our first hangovers and our first dalliances with the opposite sex. Paul studied law at first. In his mind he saw Perry Mason and a career at the bar. By year two, his legal ambitions were sensibly extinguished and he threw himself into the arts. However it was his extra curricular activities involving the drama club and Downstage, Wellington’s local professional theatre, which captured Paul’s energy and passion. He also fancied himself as a DJ, destroying many records in our flat as he perfected the art of voice over.

Professional theatre offered meagre and uncertain income, so Radio School seemed a logical next step, followed by a stint on radio in Christchurch.

In the summer of 1973 Paul hosted the first all night radio programme on the ZB network. However a late night prank call to the Archbishop of Canterbury earned the ire of the Director General of Broadcasting and led to his dismissal. That infamous letter is still framed and hanging on a toilet door at Mana Lodge. The Director General told him he would never be employed on air for Radio NZ again. Prophetic words!

The next 10 years were spent in exile polishing his radio skills in such exotic locations as Amsterdam, Vienna and Swansea. Finally Paul returned to NZ in his early thirties and his stellar career gained momentum in the late 1980s, culminating in hosting the country’s leading radio and television shows for nearly 20 years. He also became an award-winning print journalist with his weekly Herald column, recorded a platinum record and wrote two books. Not to mention his stint on Dancing with the Stars. Not a bad achievement for a working-class boy from Hastings who lived off his wits.

Quite simply, Paul Holmes became the most recognised and celebrated Kiwi broadcaster of his generation.

That was the career. But what about the man behind the microphone? There were several strengths to his personality that made Paul unique.

Throughout his life Paul had an incredible thirst for knowledge. Mostly he read books and magazines. Lots of them, and about an extraordinary range of subjects. And he retained his curiosity about people and their lives right to the end. He had special interests too, such as aviation. It was his love of flying that led to several of his miraculous escapes from death and that stimulated The Daughters of Erebus story.

Paul was a positive life force. Always bubbling just beneath the surface was a strong sense of humour. To be around Paul was to laugh a lot. And if the joke was at his expense, he would laugh just as hard. He always preferred to seek out the positives about people. His programmes were unique in having as many positive stories as negative ones.

“Most people try to hide or compensate for their deficiencies. Paul fronted up with his.”

He had extraordinary empathy with people and a huge capacity to love. He could find something interesting and special in everyone he met, regardless of their station in life. And people on both sides of the camera trusted and expected him to be fair minded but fearless.

All New Zealand invited Paul into their homes and in return he opened his heart to them. And not just with words. His passion got him involved with causes such as the Special Olympics and daughter Millie’s much publicised fight with P. He remembered the battle to change attitudes to Aids sufferers with Eve van Grafhorst as a special achievement. There were many other causes that were less public but changed people’s lives positively.

His energy and passion were legendary in the broadcasting industry. No one knows how he managed to front a morning programme on radio and a TV programme in the evening yet still find time to read, to travel, to learn to fly (badly), to write books, to support many causes and to love his family.

Despite his many strengths we should never characterise him as a saint. He was not and would never want to be remembered that way. Most people try to hide or compensate for their deficiencies. Paul fronted up with his and was loved all the more for his honesty.

About 12 years ago Paul, always a Bay boy at heart, expressed an interest in buying a bolt hole in Hawke’s Bay. My wife, Christine, introduced him and Deborah to Mana Lodge and soon afterwards the major refurbishment of its house and grounds was underway. The property is now one of Hawke’s Bay’s signature homes. It is Paul and Deborah’s pride and joy and provided the perfect backdrop for many a memorable hour spent in Paul’s company for both his family and friends and the army of visiting JAFAs.

I was fortunate to spend many hours enjoying Paul’s unique companionship there. Along with the occasional glass of wine.

Paul Holmes is one of those rare people who made a difference to our daily lives. His many friends will mourn his passing but celebrate his life. A life that at 62 years was all too short. Kia kaha Paul.

Mr Beaven, a former chief executive of Pipfruit New Zealand, was friends with Sir Paul for 50 years

Photo captions –

FAMILY AND FRIENDS: Peter Beaven and Mike Williams sit behind Sir Paul Holmes, Lady Deborah and Millie Elders [Elder] at Sir Paul’s investiture last month.    PHOTO/WARREN BUCKLAND

PROUD DAY: Sir Paul Holmes, pictured during his investiture at his family farm at Poukawa, near Hastings, last month.   PHOTO/PAUL TAYLOR HBT130417-05