Journalist Phil Gifford aka Loosehead Len to share his story with Whangamatā

At the age of 77, seasoned journalist Phil Gifford says he still has the bug for writing and he is preparing to share some of his memories with Whangamatā.

Gifford is coming to the Coromandel for a free Enterprise Whangamatā event on April 19 where he will be a guest speaker.

He had a close connection with the region, having spent his high school years in nearby Waihi Beach as his father, the late Ray Gifford, was editor of the Waihi Gazette.

It was through this family connection and a couple of encouraging high school teachers that he made his way into journalism, picking up a cadetship at the New Zealand Herald in Auckland in 1965.

Gifford said he moved to Waihi Beach with his family in 1959, as his dad, a dairy farmer and heavy smoker, had become too sick to continue farming.

His father took up a job at the Gazette in his 50s despite no prior experience in journalism.

Phil Gifford's mum and dad, Ray and Margaret, on holiday at Waihi Beach in the late 1940s.

Gifford said his father left school aged 12, had “beautiful” handwriting, and, along with his mum Margaret, was an avid reader.

“He was very literate; he quit smoking, but sadly too late; he died in 1964, aged only 59 years.

“Like my mum and dad, I’m a voracious reader. It was a great gift my parents gave me, it is a pleasure, a delight.”

About growing up in the Coromandel, Gifford said: “I had a good childhood... I really enjoyed my school days, I had a couple of [great] school teachers.”

Before finding his passion for journalism, he briefly worked in the forestry industry, but quickly found out he was not a “man’s man”.

He said he had “a foot in the door” to writing thanks to his father and was “weaseling” his way into sport reporting.

Phil Gifford and his father Ray at Waihi Beach in 1960. "I was 13, and we’re about to board a DC3 in Hamilton to fly to my brother's wedding in Christchurch," Phil says.

“I had a massive break in 1968; I went to the Mexico Olympics.”

Gifford then spent a couple of years at a community newspaper in Kent, Britain, before returning to report at the Auckland Star and Listener.

It was 1973 when he created the famous alias “Loosehead Len”.

“I was trying to be funny.

“It was sheer luck, I was nothing like Loosehead in real life, he was right wing; I am more left wing.”

Gifford even moved the character across multiple media platforms.

“I had contempt for radio; my first time on radio was co-hosting a breakfast show in Auckland.

“We played a joke on air; we made a terrible mistake and I got sacked.”

However, there was already an offer on the table from another radio station.

While he never trusted radio, he said he grew to embrace it through a mentor and stayed in breakfast radio shows between 1981 and 2003.

He spent a decade in Christchurch in radio, between 1992 and 2003, and developed his public speaking skills with an “enormous amount of after-dinner speaking”.

Phil Gifford is set to speak in Whangamatā on April 19.

Now based in Auckland, Gifford also reconnected with the Coromandel region where he bought a bach.

Besides radio, Gifford continued to write and ended up authoring more than 25 books, including Dame Valerie Adams’ biography and Grizz The Legend.

“I’ve done a lot of books; they are extremely satisfying.

“With radio, it is immediate; with a book it is much harder work.”

Despite the harder work, Gifford said he was not done with telling stories.

Phil Gifford with Mick Jagger during an interview in 1989. Gifford says he has interviewed dozens of high-profile people over the decades, and will share some of the lighter moments with Whangamatā on April 19.

“I’ve got another book project; [but] I better not say what it is [yet].”

At the upcoming event in Whangamatā, he said he would talk about some “sporting stuff”, but also about one of the main things he loved about journalism: Meeting “a lot” of interesting people.

“I have talked with everybody from Mick Jagger to Chuck Berry to Elton John; I’ve had the chance to meet so many of these people.”

Anyone keen to attend is asked to register their interest at whangamata.org.nz

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