Why New Zealand Fired its Official Wizard | Tales From the Bottle
This country had an official wizard for decades, then they fired him.
“In 1974, the Wizard migrated to Christchurch in New Zealand and began to speak on a ladder in Cathedral Square. The city council attempted to have him arrested, but he became so popular that they made the square a public speaking area. Wearing his costume as a false prophet of the Church of England, or his wizard’s pointy hat, he has spoken there at lunchtimes in the summer months.
He confronted Telecom over the colour of public telephone boxes, played for the local rugby team, heckled Christian evangelist Ray Comfort, evaded the compulsory New Zealand census and performed rain dances in Canterbury, Auckland and the Australian outback.
In 1982, the New Zealand Art Gallery directors association issued a statement that in their opinion the Wizard was an authentic living work of art and the city council appointed him “Wizard of Christchurch”. In 1990, the Prime Minister of New Zealand, Mike Moore, an old friend, appointed him the official “Wizard of New Zealand”.
With the help of the mayor, Vicki Buck, the city of Christchurch hosted a wizards’ conclave in 1995 when visiting colleagues gathered to help build a wizard’s nest on top of the university library tower, to witness the Wizard hatching from a giant egg in the city art gallery, sky diving whilst chanting a spell for a major rugby match and performing various rituals round the city. Soon afterwards, accompanied by 49 assistant wizards, he came down by gondola from the Port Hills with tablets bearing the address of his new website.
He initially provided his services free. In 1998, the Christchurch City Council signed a contract with him to “provide acts of wizardry and other wizard-like-services – as part of promotional work for the city of Christchurch” for an annual fee of $16,000. The Wizard also received financial support from his partner, Alice Flett.
On 8 September 2003, the Wizard’s large wooden house was destroyed by a fire, which Christchurch police treated as arson. The “Wizardmobile”, constructed from the front halves of two VW Beetles, was also attacked and damaged.
The Wizard was awarded the Queen’s Service Medal in the 2009 Queen’s Birthday Honours for service to the community.
After the February 2011 Christchurch earthquake, the Wizard planned to retire and permanently leave Christchurch, saying that the town he loved had gone and that it was the end of an era. After it was announced by the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority and the Anglican bishop that the remains of Christchurch Cathedral would be demolished, the Wizard returned to Christchurch to oppose the demolition. The Wizard continues to speak on the need to preserve Christchurch’s heritage buildings.
Between 2014 and 2021, Ari Freeman was the Wizard’s apprentice. He distanced himself from the Wizard due to the latter’s “divisive politics” and public comments about women and drag storytime events.
In October 2021, the Christchurch City Council ended its contract with the Wizard after two decades of service. The Wizard said he was disappointed but will continue to appear in the city.
The Wizard stood as a candidate in the 2022 Christchurch mayoral election, receiving 2,474 votes and coming in fifth place.”
More on Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wizard_of_New_Zealand
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@Qxir
July 30, 2026 at 7:59 pm
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@CruthadairfoDhia
July 30, 2026 at 7:59 pm
Regardless of one’s political stance, it is outrageous a wacky wizard cannot yell out strong opinions.
@pizzlerot2730
July 30, 2026 at 7:59 pm
Once again, with all of the political culture war nonsense stripped away, "woke" (as much as I hate the term) objectively seems to simply mean "chill with people who are chill back" 😒
@calebneff5777
July 30, 2026 at 7:59 pm
To be totally fair, DQSH is objectively evil and psychologically damaging to children.
@thealienlife
July 30, 2026 at 7:59 pm
so the wizard was fired because of his opinions, doesn't sound like freedom of speech to me though I don't know too much about new zealand's rights
@MegaMobian
July 30, 2026 at 7:59 pm
More countries need wizards like this man! Forget the U.S. presidency, next voting season we should all (at least, those of us who are U.S. citizens) be voting on who gets to be the country's first official wizard!
@MegaMobian
July 30, 2026 at 7:59 pm
This reminds me of a video I've seen about the self-proclaimed "Emperor of the United States of America."
@MsMiDC
July 30, 2026 at 7:59 pm
there is a certain level of irony about a guy larping as a wizard complaining about drag queens
@AliMahdi-pj3iu
July 30, 2026 at 7:59 pm
6:03
@MajorUrsa
July 30, 2026 at 7:59 pm
Yknow when youve first found youre calling? No no one tends to. But I think i may justve.
@randomguy3605
July 30, 2026 at 7:59 pm
Kind of reminds me of Jack Karlson.
@AstrumKitten091
July 30, 2026 at 7:59 pm
Damn. the only thing he had to do was not be needlessly hateful at the end and he would been remembered unanimously as a legend. I was hoping his rants at the start were like deliberately exagerated and unbelievable for fun.
@thresholdhatesrevenant2620
July 30, 2026 at 7:59 pm
One might say you are a master of pictomancy.
@legopotter8295
July 30, 2026 at 7:59 pm
"Starting from the start"…lmao
@ttylbodydark
July 30, 2026 at 7:59 pm
I didn’t get a notification for this video
@internetduck1520
July 30, 2026 at 7:59 pm
Lost it at "women have very small souls, all they wanna do is SHOPPING"
@chrisireland7461
July 30, 2026 at 7:59 pm
I'm assuming that this has something to do with the Lord of the Rings Movies that were filmed there
@isbestlizard
July 30, 2026 at 7:59 pm
I wanted to like him, but sexism is deeply unappealing in someone's character.
@WickedNoPoint
July 30, 2026 at 7:59 pm
5:29 bro was genuinely so exited to be the Wizard of New Zealand
@TrapLordMinion
July 30, 2026 at 7:59 pm
Based wizard
@PyrrhicHeart
July 30, 2026 at 7:59 pm
Hero
@xdman2956
July 30, 2026 at 7:59 pm
I feel happy having predicted the answer to the T:
And why are the nuns so special?
Cuz they don't go shopping!
@michaelbrodsky
July 30, 2026 at 7:59 pm
A cheap cultural-appropriation of European headwear.
@Leatherargento
July 30, 2026 at 7:59 pm
He's right about the phone boxes.
@marketableplushies1842
July 30, 2026 at 7:59 pm
Never have I been more proud to be a New Zealander. Of course, excluding the fact that our national wizard was indeed a misogynist.
@_RedRightHand_
July 30, 2026 at 7:59 pm
There are more state-appointed wizards, I'm certain. Even Rasputin counts as one.
@Coffy-chan
July 30, 2026 at 7:59 pm
Being woke is the true moral failing. He got fired for not drinking the kool-aid lol.
@humanman7368
July 30, 2026 at 7:59 pm
“The Queen’s wizard was cancelled by the woke mob” is a real event I can tell my grandchildren about and they’d think I were in hysterics.
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