WHAT A TEAM!
FUN, SUN AND SAUSAGE ROLLS – WE CELEBRATE WITH OUR WEEKLY FAVOURITES
Treasured memories were shared when our columnists got together one afternoon for a birthday barbecue
KEVIN MILNE
CONSUMER
What are your childhood memories of the Weekly?
It cost 6d and was filled with endless advertisements for women’s underwear and corsetry. They were mainly black and white drawings, and made me feel awkward. I flicked past them as quickly as possible, should someone find me looking at them.
The corsetry illustrations, in particular, looked very odd.
The strangest reader feedback I’ve ever had was... When
I had a cover story about the arrival of our daughter Tommie when I was 52 and a letter was published from a woman expressing her upset. She’d had “an old mother” who never played with her because when she (the mother) got down on the floor, she had difficulty getting up again. Now, even at 68, I have no difficulty getting up and down off the floor!
When was your best anniversary? My 25th anniversary of working on
Fair Go felt pretty meaningful. TVNZ’s CEO at the time came down from his office, stood next to my desk and made a little speech. But the anniversary I’m looking forward to most is Linda and my 40th wedding anniversary next year. Far more important than any work thing!
Can you remember your mother reading the Weekly?
Yes, I can remember her reading the Weekly. She would always let me rip out the Looking at New Zealand full-page colour photo. I used to collect them in a scrapbook.
What do you do at a BBQ?
I get the BBQ going, engage with other men around it for a while, then slide off leaving them to it. Most men love to BBQ. I wouldn’t want to deny them their pleasure – I’d rather be chatting to their wives. New Zealand Woman’s
Weekly is… The magazine everyone reads – some more secretly than others.
NICI WICKES
FOOD EDITOR
What are your childhood memories of the Weekly? As a teen, I adored the royals of Monaco and they oft graced the cover of the Weekly.
What’s the best or strangest reader feedback or encounter you’ve had? As food editor, I get so much lovely feedback, as well as a lot of questions that make me wonder if they were that well thought out.
How do you like to celebrate big milestones? With lots of food, friends and family usually, but not all at once. For my 40th, I had a big party in my local community hall, complete with sit-down dinner for 70 (I happily cooked) and a live band for dancing late into the night. For my 50th, I had 16 friends come and do yoga followed by a nourishing lunch. Oh, how a decade can change things!
If someone asks you to bring
a plate, your go-to is? I don’t have a go-to, but I’ll always try for something a little surprising, like fixings for some rice paper rolls or perhaps a pavlova with custard and roasted rhubarb instead of strawberries and cream. Something that travels well is a good idea so that it survives the car or bike ride. New Zealand Woman’s Weekly
is… The magazine I like to relax with knowing I’ll always learn something from its pages.
NICKY PELLEGRINO
BOOKS EDITOR
What are your childhood memories of the Weekly? I grew up in the UK, so my Mum didn’t buy the Weekly, but she did get lots of other magazines. I was always an avid reader of them, which is where I think I got my love of magazines.
What’s the best or strangest reader feedback or encounter you’ve had? I was in the middle of having a smear test done and the gynaecologist asked me what I did. When I told her I worked on the Weekly, she got all excited and said as a result of a story we’d run on polycystic ovary syndrome, several women had come in and been diagnosed with the condition. I remember her telling me never to underestimate the reach and influence the magazine has.
What’s the best anniversary you have had? My 18th wedding anniversary in southern Italy. We got the date wrong and ended up having two special dinners!
Where can we usually find you at a backyard BBQ? Near the nibble platter. Please, take it away from me! New Zealand Woman’s Weekly
is… A friend to its readers.
KERRE MCIVOR
SHORT BLONDE
What are your childhood memories of the Weekly? I don’t really have childhood memories of the Weekly, but I can remember saying when I joined Fair Go at the age of 20 that I would love to be a Weekly cover girl. That seemed to me to be the ultimate. And when I had my daughter Kate, at the age of 24, I made it!
What’s the best or strangest reader feedback or encounter you’ve had? The best reader feedback was the response to news that I had become a mother and, some years later, the news I was about to become a grandmother. Readers sent in cards, good wishes and handknitted baby garments. It was very special. I also love meeting the people who read the Weekly when I travel round the country – it’s like an instant connection.
How do you get the ideas for your column? Oh goodness, everything is up for grabs! Any event that occurs in my life, be it good (becoming a grandmother) or bad (being trapped in my dress in a hotel in Blenheim) is fodder for my column.
How do you like to celebrate big milestones I love a big party to celebrate milestones. Why not?
They are the perfect reasons to celebrate. Friends, music, good food and bubbles – let’s go!
Where can we usually find you at a backyard BBQ? I’m usually in the middle of a group of people, glass in hand. I’m not at all helpful during a party, although I’m pretty good at helping clean up at the end or the next day. New Zealand Woman’s Weekly
is… A wonderful record of New Zealand’s social history. I have shared absolutely everything with Weekly readers. In fact, I probably could be accused of oversharing on occasions... and I’m not stopping now!
‘I was in the middle of having a smear test done and the gynaecologist asked me what I did’
COLIN HOGG
MAN OF THE HOUSE
What are your childhood memories of the Weekly?
My grandmother, who was an avid follower of the royal family and always had an eye out for a new recipe, read it. But all the women read it – hence the sensible name.
What’s the best or strangest reader feedback or encounter you’ve had? I’ve had kind readers help me out many times. Recently, one helped put me in touch with my beloved hairdresser, who
I’d lost when I moved out of town for a while.
How do you get the ideas for your column? I get them from day-to-day life mostly.
I’ll jot down an idea or an overheard line someone said that caught my ear and build a column from there.
What’s the best anniversary you’ve had? Twenty-five years knowing and five years married to my darling wife.
Can you remember your mother reading the Weekly?
My mother always professed to be “not a magazine sort of person”, though the rumours among her pals about my column drew her in eventually.
Where can we usually find you at a backyard BBQ?
Turning sausages or looking for the beer bin. New Zealand Woman’s Weekly is… My connection to a world of readers who I feel great affection for and great gratitude to.
‘I’ve had kind readers help me out many times’
JEREMY CORBETT
DIRECT MALE
What’s the best or strangest reader feedback or encounter you’ve had? Airports. Why are so many Weekly readers hanging around at airports?
How do you get the ideas for your column? I ask my wife Megan.
How do you like to celebrate big milestones? I initially want to keep things small, then I realise it’s not about me, it’s about me thanking my friends and family, so I invite far too many people I haven’t seen enough of. Then I don’t get to see them on the night because I’ve invited too many people.
Where can we usually find you at a backyard BBQ? On a beanbag, in half sun/half shade, within reach of the chilly bin.
What moments in your life have you shared with Weekly readers? Pretty much every area of my life! Certainly marriage and birth – and I’m staying away from the third one. New Zealand Woman’s Weekly
is... A conduit straight to the heart of the people who make New Zealand tick.
DAVID HARTNELL
HOLLYWOOD TRIVIA
What are your childhood memories of the Weekly?
Both my grandmother and mother always got the New Zealand Woman’s Weekly. As a child, I loved reading about the movie stars and seeing glamorous pictures of them. I guess you could say the Weekly planted the seed in my child-like mind of wanting to go to Hollywood and interview the stars. The Weekly had a profound effect on my life – and here I am, all these years later, as a Hollywood gossip columnist.
How do you get the ideas for your column? I never stop looking for trivia questions, one could even say it has become an obsession with me. I even keep a notebook in my bag and as soon as I think, “Hey, that would make a great question”, I jot it down.
What’s the best anniversary you’ve had? September 9 this year marked my partner Somboon and my 24th anniversary together. Next year, for our 25th, we will be cruising in a balcony suite on the Queen Elizabeth.
Where can we usually find you at a backyard BBQ?
Sitting being waited on – at my age, I have earnt that right! I’m always amazed that the outdoor BBQ is the male’s domain, yet ask most men to cook in a kitchen and they think that is firmly a female’s domain. I really don’t get it.
If someone asks you to bring a plate, your go-to is?
Somboon is an excellent cook, so I always leave that to him. He does all the cooking and I do all the washing up. Although, when he came to live in New Zealand from Thailand 24 years ago and was asked to bring a plate, he couldn’t understand it. He really thought you brought an empty plate.
Finish this sentence – New Zealand Woman’s
Weekly is… The greatest
New Zealand magazine of them all. Magazines have come and gone but the Weekly survived because it has a wonderful spirit, and it’s the magazine of and for New Zealanders. The Weekly never talks down to its readers, it talks to them in the same way a friend would do.
The magazine has always had strong women editors, who completely understand what their reader wants. This has never been simply a job for these women – they truly care about the magazine.
WENDYL NISSEN
GREEN GODDESS
What are your childhood memories of the Weekly?
The only magazines we got in my house were Time and the New Zealand Listener, but my nana got the Weekly and we’d read it together when I visited. Now, my granddaughter Lila reads it from cover to cover and just loves it when she visits. They live in Los Angeles, so I send her my copies in special parcels.
What’s the best or strangest reader feedback or encounter you’ve had? When I was editing the Weekly and was pregnant. Lots of readers started knitting and my baby daughter Pearl was the recipient of some beautiful handmade booties, hats and cardigans.
How do you get the ideas for your column? I write about recipes and tips I glean from the 150-odd recipe books I have collected. Research for the column is not hard work, it’s what I love to do most weekends. What’s the best anniversary you’ve had? This year my husband and I celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary, which is the longest I’ve ever stuck at anything. That’s definitely the best!
Can you remember your mother reading the Weekly?
Sadly, no. My mother was a bit anti-women’s mags, which is probably why I ended up editing and writing for them.
How do you like to celebrate big milestones? Always with a bottle of Champagne. I’m a big fan of celebrating any little achievement with a bottle of something. It’s really important to recognise the positives in your family’s life. Where can we usually find you at a backyard BBQ?
Well, that very much depends on how many glasses of wine I’ve had. Early on, I can be a bit shy, so I’ll be in the kitchen helping out or talking to any children who are there. Later on, I’ll be holding forth on something political or gossipy, or be dancing.
If someone asks you to bring a plate, your go-to is? Bread. I bake a very good loaf and everyone loves fresh bread. What moments in your life have you shared with Weekly readers? I was editing the Weekly when I married my second husband Paul Little and had my last baby Pearl – so my readers got to hear all about that, over and over. New Zealand Woman’s
Weekly is... Still at the heart of everything women do in this country.
‘ My mother was a bit antiwomen’s mags, which is probably why I ended up editing and writing for them’