Karl du Fresne

Karl du Fresne: I'm a third-generation New Zealander of Irish, Danish and French descent. I grew up in the farming town of Waipukurau and still consider it my turangawaewae, although I can walk the length of the main street these days and not recognise a single face. I've written books about press freedom ("The Right to Know", 2005), wine ("The New Zealand Wine-Lover's Companion", 2009) and music ("A Road Tour of American Song Titles: From Mendocino to Memphis", 2016). In a past life I edited a daily newspaper called The Dominion. I was in journalism for more than 50 years and like many journalists I know a little bit about a lot of things and probably not enough about anything. I didn't go to university and have never won any awards. I don't call New Zealanders Kiwis, I've never sat through a reality TV show, I'm not on X, Facebook or Instagram, and I haven't written my own Wikipedia entry.The picture accompanying this profile was drawn by my clever grandson Gabriel.