A bit of a dagg

After landing at Christchurch airport the other evening, I heard an interview on Radio New Zealand with John Clarke.

It was on Lloyd Scott's midnight to dawn show. Lloyd is an old mate of mine and another amazing Kiwi. I'll catch up with Lloyd when I get up to Wellywood next week.

We once owned John Clarke, along with pavlova, Kiwi Fruit, Phar Lap, Crowded House, Marmite, Buzzie Bees, and Joh Bjelke-Petersen. You can have Russell Crowe and under arm bowling. Oh, and Sir Joh.

When I grew up in New Zealand, John Clarke was Fred Dagg and Fred was our icon of silliness.

He commanded the attention of the nation for more than 7 years. Fred's 'We Don't Know How Lucky We Are' made it on the national charts. 'Fred Dagg's Greatest Hits' album was a massive seller and 30 years after its release remains one of the all-time biggest selling records in Aotearoa.

Any upstanding Kiwi could recite every verse after a few Lion Browns.

With New Zealand in crisis during the 1970's, the very sensible Mr Dagg addressed a wide range of issues on national television. He was elegantly dressed in gumboots and often accompanied by a dog. Fred and the Old Sheila had seven sons, all called Trevor. Very good boys they were too. Especially Trevor.

In the 1975 New Zealand election, there was a 100% swing to the Dagg Party. Then in the 1980's some clown imported Market Economics, the belief that a beautiful day has no value if you can't sell it.

Fred and Bruce Bayliss pulled the country's infrastructure out of a ditch up near Taihape in 1987 and gave the government a lift back to town in the truck. They still owe Fred for the petrol.

Fred, aka John Clarke of Clarke & Dawe fame, has just released a retrospective DVD that any Kiwi, ex-Kiwi, Kiwi lubba, maybe even an okker, will not miss the opportunity to add this to his collection.