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Private Notes
The oddly blended Scottish Samoan Jackie Clarke talks whisky, frugality and emancipation with the PM, Don McGlashan and the leader of New Zealand's Official Russian Army. From the high country to the city of sails. New Zealand is as Scottish as they come.
Westie comedian Ewen Filmour finds out that his grand-folks were as Bohemian as he is, and that there is a reason why Kiwis are so fond of war, and that beer and sausage combination. Not to mention an explanation for our dry sense of humour.
Working class lad, actor / director Michael Hurst discovers how many things we have to thank (and blame) the English for. He explores exactly why we drove Minis, not Citroens, prefer rugby and fish and chips, and don't like underarm deodorant.
Bernadine Lim takes her Malaysian Chinese heritage to the goldfields and market gardens. When did the lepers and butter pioneers turn into hiphop artists? Is there a Chinese All Black? Can we shout out 'Asians are cool'?
Actor and dancing start Theresa Healey sets out to explain why her Irish ancestors were blamed for bringing public drunkenness, religious violence, melancholy, prostitution and mental illness to New Zealand.
All Black/croatian rugby star Frano Botica meets the wine pioneers, rock breakers and rock stars who have brought the Adriatic influence to New Zealand. Just what did those Maori wahine see in the guys wearing cravats?
Comedian Michele A'Court says that the first time she visited Paris she felt immediately at home. While that may be wishful thinking, there is a very intriguing element to the French story in New Zealand - what if the French had settled here first? Michele sets out to find out how close they really came, and explores the influence of wars fought on both the rugby field and the battleground.
With Weste-Neapolitan lineage Paolo Rotondo learns he's pretty keen on fishing. For an actor. The life, vibrancy and passion that the Italian settlers brought to the 'end of the earth' inspire Paolo to hop on his Vespa and meet the extended familia. And he asks "what is spaghetti in a can?"
They say that the English are too polite to be honest, but the Butch are too honest to be polite. Bugman Ruud Kleinpaste proves the point. If the very name of the country comes from Holland, another 'Zeeland', what else does Kiwi culture owe to the Dutch?
Describing herself as a 'curried potato', actor Madeleine Sami casts aside the green cloth of her Irish side and goes in search of her Indian roots. Finding Mindian roti, Indo-Fijian curry and a rugby playing Guru, she also contemplates an arranged marriage...
Arriving from Niue at the age of four, film and T actor Shimpal Lelisi is typical of the Pacific Island migrants. Shimpal visits the first major Pacific Island settlement (and it's not in Auckland), talks about his own experiences of anti-tour protests and the famous Bob Marley concert, and pays his respects at the gravesite of one of the first Islanders to volunteer to fight in WWI.
It's hard to think of yourself as Danish when to the rest of the world you look Polynesian. But that is exactly the journey that singer and actor Stephanie Tauevihi embarked on. With a Danish lineage that leads back to one of the founding fathers of Norsewood, Stephanie takes a great green-pea mould out to the country to find the Scandinavian influence, and is disappointed by how much has been lost.
