The Monday Q & A: Dr Alan Mangan on steaks, rugby and heart surgeons

Whanganui GP Alan Mangan, subject of this week's Monday Q and A. Photo / Supplied

Every Monday the Chronicle fires 10 questions at a Whanganui local revealing what lies behind their passions and the things you didn't know you didn't know about people in our community.

TodayMike Tweed speaks with Alan Mangan, who has been a GP in Whanganui for 40 years and in 2008 received the Queen's Service Medal for services to medicine and health administration. He is a founding member of the Aramoho Health Centre and still works there as a locum for three days a week.

If you had to drink only one kind of wine for the rest of your life, what would it be?

That would be a 2016 McLaren Vale Shiraz.

What is your favourite sporting memory?

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The Hurricanes winning the Super 15 rugby competition some years ago. I've been blessed with many great memories throughout my life, but that victory was the most thrilling for me. For the moment, it's a unique achievement. It definitely silenced a few critics. Hopefully, they'll pull it off again soon.

Favourite sports team?

Well, obviously it's the Hurricanes, but the Whanganui Butcher Boys (rugby) are very close behind. I go along to watch them every weekend.

If you had to live in a different country, where would it be?

Canada.

What has been your best round of golf, ever?

I had a seventy-six at Belmont many years ago, and I've come nowhere close to that ever since.

If you could only listen to one album for the rest of your life, what would it be?

The best of Leonard Cohen. I should probably pick my son's band (The Have/Sun and the Wolf), but it's hard to go past Leonard Cohen.

How do you think Whanganui has changed over the years?

It's gone from being a relatively underrated provincial city to being, in my opinion, one of the best places in the world to live.

If you were trying to impress your wife, Sue, with your finest home-cooked meal, what would you serve up?

I'd grill up a nice cut of fillet steak on the BBQ, served with Cafe de Paris butter.

Favourite Whanganui activity?

Following my wife around on her bicycle, always struggling to keep up.

Who would you most like to have worked alongside in your medical career?

That would be New Zealand's pioneer heart surgeon, Sir Brian Barratt-Boyes.