1975: A Wizard waits
‘‘Amid suggestions that he be given the water test for sorcery in Cathedral Square, the Wizard of Christchurch (Ian Brackenbury Channell) came closer to a meeting with Christchurch city councillors yesterday,’’ The Press reported on November 25, 1975.
The British-born Wizard had arrived in Christchurch from Australia a year earlier and quickly began drawing crowds when he lectured in Cathedral Square.
A long and often absurd battle with authorities started then, and continued for decades.
The paper reported that ‘‘Mr Channell’’ wanted the council to declare him Arch-Wizard of Canterbury and allow him to be a living work of art near the Robert McDougall Art Gallery in the Botanic Gardens.
In turn, the council’s cultural committee said he should be allowed to address them at the next available meeting, which was about two months away.
In the meantime, the Wizard maintained a vigil outside the Council Chambers.
One councillor wondered if the Wizard was possibly more of a jester than a wizard, as he was yet to perform a miracle.
Another wanted to see the Wizard ‘‘exported’’ to other parts of greater Christchurch: ‘‘He is not just a Christchurch City Council responsibility.’’
But a third saw the benefits: ‘‘I think we should keep him for ourselves.’’
When it came to a vote in January, 1976, the committee voted five to three against his proposal, according to the Wizard’s own account, My Life as a Miracle. But the council changed its mind in 1980, and made him Arch-Wizard.
160 Years is a series marking the launch of The Press newspaper in Christchurch on May 25, 1861.