To be held at the Takapuna Library, The Strand, Takapuna
Monday, 2 August, 6:00 pm
RSVP by 29 July to Helen Woodhouse, phone 486 8469
or email helenw@shorelibraries.govt.nz
Beau Baxter’s biggest break came, when at the age of seventeen he decided to become a Maori.
Mistaken for a Maori because of his dark good looks, Beau Baxter is selected for the Maori All Blacks and eventually – after some very questionable incidents – goes onto play for the 1924 – 25 Invincibles.
Fast and funny, Beau Baxter is Flashman in rugger shorts, but with a distinctive Kiwi humour. This is the 1924 tour as it might have been, with more hanky panky and less etiquette than the rugby historians would have us believe.
A newspaper clipping about Alan ‘Kiwi’ Blake, who missed playing for the All Blacks in South Africa in 1949 because of the dark colour of his skin, but went on to play for the New Zealand Maori ruby team even though he wasn’t Maori, inspired author Ivan Dunn to create his fictional character Beau Baxter.
Ivan set the story during the 1920s, when – at a time during hardship which eventually led to the Great Depression – our greatest rugby team emerged. The 1924 – 25 Invincibles toured Great Britain, Ireland, France and Canada and won every game – a feat still unequalled today.
About the author:
Ivan Dunn is an experienced newspaper journalist who has spent forty four years working with major daily newspapers in New Zealand, England, Canada and South Africa. Not all of the frenzy was confined to meeting deadlines either. Ivan experienced a tumultuous time in Montréal with the Federation Libération Québec (FLQ) terrorists regularly setting off bombs about the city and murdering Cabinet Minister Pierre Laporte. The first night Ivan was in Montréal, five bombs set off in close proximity to his apartment. The newspaper he worked with was also a target.
Release Date: AUGUST 2010 | RRP: $36.99 | HARPERCOLLINS Publishers
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