Tim Shadbolt

Timothy Richard Shadbolt
42nd Mayor of Invercargill
Incumbent
Assumed office
1998
In office
1993–1995
Mayor of Waitemata City
In office
1983–1989
Personal details
Born 19 February 1947
Remuera, Auckland, New Zealand
Political party Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis
New Zealand First (Past)
Spouse(s) first marriage (one son)
Miriam Cameron (two sons, divorced)
Domestic partner Asha Dutt
Children three adult sons and one newborn son[1]

Timothy Richard "Tim" Shadbolt (born 19 February 1947) is a New Zealand politician. He is the Mayor of Invercargill and was previously Mayor of Waitemata City.

Early life

Shadbolt was born in the Auckland suburb of Remuera in 1947. His father died in a flying accident in 1952. He was on the school council and appointed prefect.[2]

Activist: 1960s and 1970s

Shadbolt became a founding student of Rutherford College, Auckland, and attended The University of Auckland from 1966 to 1970, taking a year off in 1967 to work on the Manapouri Power Project in Southland. He was a member of the Auckland University Students Association executive, and editor of Craccum in 1972. During the late 1960s and early 1970s, he became prominent in the Progressive Youth Movement, a radical organisation, and was arrested 33 times during political protests,[3] most famously for using the word "bullshit"; this incident influenced the title of his autobiography.

After 1970, he founded a commune and concrete cooperative at Huia. He wrote an autobiography, Bullshit & Jellybeans.

Local politician: 1980s–present

Waitemata

Shadbolt claims he stood for Mayor of Waitemata City in 1983 because he did not want to see the incumbent Tony Covic re-elected unopposed. He won the election. He famously celebrated, much to some people's disgust, by towing his concrete mixer (named "Karl Marx"[4]) behind the mayoral Daimler in the 1983 Henderson Christmas parade.[5][6] He won again in 1986 heading a political ticket called "Tim's Team", but in 1989 lost the following mayoral election in the newly formed Waitakere city (an enlarged Waitemata city) to Assid Corban.[7] During his term as mayor he became infamous by twice losing the mayoral chains.[8]

Invercargill

In 1993, he ran successfully for the position of Mayor of Invercargill. In 1994, he contested the Selwyn by-election as a candidate for New Zealand First, but was placed fourth, and remained Mayor of Invercargill.[3] He was defeated in 1995. In the 1996 general election he stood unsuccessfully as a candidate for the Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party.[3]

In 1998 he was re-elected to the mayoralty and has remained the mayor ever since. In 2001 he was re-elected unopposed.

In October 2002 Shadbolt told a conference of New Zealand's Disabled Persons Assembly that Invercargill had "an innovative approach to public transport, currently centred on 'Freebie the Bus' travelling the 'Purple Circle'". He said he hoped that in future all buses in Invercargill would be free and accessible.[9] (The Freebie and Purple Circle are zero-fare bus routes in Invercargill.)

In 2004 and 2007, he won his fourth and fifth mayoral terms by huge margins. In 2010, he won his sixth Invercargill mayoral election. Shadbolt received 16,466 votes over mayoral candidates Suzanne Prentice (5,361 votes) and Carl Heenan (682 votes).[10] The 2010 election win made Shadbolt the longest-serving mayor in New Zealand, with this being his 8th mayoral term (his 6th term in Invercargill).[11]

Outside politics

Family

Shadbolt has one son from an early marriage. He met his second wife, Miriam Cameron, in 1970. There are two sons from this marriage. Cameron left Shadbolt in 1989 after alleged repeated domestic violence. They divorced three years later.[2][12]

Shadbolt's current partner is lawyer Asha Dutt and they have one child.[8][13]

Notable activities

He has presented several television documentaries, and the series That's Fairly Interesting.

In the 1990s he appeared in an advertisement promoting New Zealand cheese, where he humorously repeated the phrase "I don't care where as long as I'm mayor", referencing his dual mayoralties.[14] He admitted later that the phrase was developed by an advertising agency.[8]

In 2001, he appeared as a contestant on a celebrity special of The Weakest Link.[15]

In 2005, New Zealand Toastmasters awarded him the Communicator of the Year award.[2] He also played in the movie The World's Fastest Indian, portraying a good friend of Burt Munro who organised social events for Invercargill's motorcycling community.[2]

He also participated in the New Zealand version of Dancing with the Stars where he placed 3rd.[8] In 2006 Shadbolt played the part of the Narrator in The Rocky Horror Show by the Invercargill Musical Theatre. He continued his theatre experiences by appearing in 2007 in the Invercargill Musical Theatres production of Sea Cruise.

In 2010, Shadbolt appeared on the comedy gameshow 7 Days as the guest participant in the round Yes, Minister.[16]

In 2012, Shadbolt set the Guinness World Record for the longest television interview. He was interviewed for 26 consecutive hours by interviewer Tom Conroy. In doing so the pair also set the record for the longest single event in New Zealand television history.[17] Shadbolt later said he would have liked to keep going.[18] The record was broken in 2013 by Norwegian novelist Hans Olav Lahlum.[19]

References

  1. ↑ Meng-Yee, Carolyne (17 June 2012). "Shadbolt a dad again at 65". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 17 June 2012.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Cook, Stephen (12 November 2006). "Shadbolt bashed me, says ex-wife". New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 19 October 2010.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 McNeilly, Hamish (4 October 2008). "Tinny Tim". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 16 June 2010.
  4. ↑ "Karl Marx and Daimler receive rousing reception.". Western Leader. 1983-12-01. p. 1. Retrieved 2013-12-27. Description: Tim Shadbolt drove the Waitemata City mayoral Daimler towing his concrete mixer named 'Karl Marx' in the 1983 Henderson Christmas Parade.
  5. ↑ "Designworks Visionary Leader - Tim Shadbolt". January 2008. Retrieved 2013-12-27. He stood for mayor of Waitemata City in 1983 and won. He celebrated by towing his trusty concrete mixer behind the mayoral car.
  6. ↑ Bidois, Ngahi (17 August 2011). "Ngahi Bidois: Lessons from Tim Shadbolt". Rotorua Daily Post. Retrieved 2013-12-27. [...] my recollections of him were his 'incident' where he towed the concrete mixer with the mayoral car [...]
  7. ↑ Bob Harvey (29 September 2010). "Report of the Mayor" (PDF). Waitakere City Council. p. 4. Retrieved 9 October 2010.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 McNeilly, Hamish (4 October 2008). "Tinny Tim". New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 19 October 2010.
  9. ↑ "December 2002 and January 2003". Bites. DPA. 2003.
  10. ↑ "Tim Shadbolt wins sixth term". Invercargill City Council. October 9, 2010.
  11. ↑ "Tim Shadbolt earns mayoral record". ONE News/NewsTalk ZB. 9 October 2010. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
  12. ↑ "Shadbolt claims he bedded Kedgley". Television New Zealand. October 5, 2008. Retrieved November 12, 2009.
  13. ↑ Meng-Yee, Carolyne (17 June 2012). "Shadbolt a dad again at 65". The New Zealand Herald.
  14. ↑ Roy, Heather (8 Oct 2010). "Heather Roy's Diary : Local Body Elections". ACT Party. Retrieved 19 October 2010.
  15. ↑ Tim a little red-faced after Weakest Link blue (subscription required)
  16. ↑ Crayton-Brown, Kimberley (25 February 2011). "Comedians 'riff' about all things Kiwi". The Southland Times. Retrieved 22 November 2011.
  17. ↑ "Invercargill's mayor sets world record". Yahoo! New Zealand. Retrieved 2012-04-29.
  18. ↑ "Record-holder Shadbolt wanted to keep going". 3 News NZ. April 29, 2012.
  19. ↑ "Norway crime novelist talks his way to live interview record". Reuters. 23 May 2013.

Further reading

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Tim Shadbolt
Political offices
Preceded by
Tony Covic		 Mayor of Waitemata City
1983–1989 		Office abolished
Preceded by
Eve Poole		 Mayor of Invercargill
1993–1995
1998–present 		Succeeded by
David Harrington
Preceded by
David Harrington		 Incumbent
Awards and achievements
Preceded by
Show started		 Dancing with the Stars (New Zealand) third place contestant
Season 1 (2005 with Rebecca Nicholson) 		Succeeded by
Danyon Loader & Hayley Holt