Over the years, he became a fixture in the city. Now age 87, The Wizard spends less time in the public eye
The Wizard waits for the arrival of Britain's Prince William and Kate during their royal visit to Christchurch on April 14, 2014. On a sunny autumn afternoon, two wizards in long, black robes and pointed hats sat down for coffee in one of New Zealand's biggest cities.
As he and Freeman sit at at a table outside a sunny, inner-city cafe, a middle-aged cyclist calls out to them:"No casting spells fellas!"As a young man, The Wizard backpacked around Europe, was a Royal Air Force Officer in Canada, and taught English literature at the University of Tehran. But it wasn't until he moved to Australia with his then-wife that he found the role he would spend his life playing: The Wizard.
A picture of him in the role -- published by Origins, the newsletter of the UNSW Archives -- shows him wearing a leather jacket, standing on a chair and holding a skull like a modern-day Hamlet. When he became a wizard, he said he lost all his friends and his wife left him -- he says he turned her throwing him out of the house into a ritual by inviting friends to come, too."To me it was fun, but not to her. She's still furious."
"I've been the most popular man in Christchurch since then," The Wizard claimed."And the most hated man by the bureaucrats."In 1982, the New Zealand Art Gallery Directors Association said he had become a living work of art -- the Auckland City Art Gallery document described the work's medium as"artist's corporeal substance" and its value as"priceless.
Eight years later came perhaps the biggest validation of his status to date -- and an amazing about-turn. "I think it came together in my mid-20s. It's one of those things you don't have a name for and when you look back, you realize you've been doing it for a long, long time." The Wizard is resistant to the idea of a female wizard, and suggests women can be fairies, instead. He's not convinced by climate change, although he does like the idea of a simpler way of life
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