22:
204:
With his passion for sports and a prodigious memory for sports trivia, he pioneered talkback on
Sportsline with Geoff Sinclair on Radio I. The show attracted more than a third of the listening audience at its peak, and was arguably one of the most successful sports shows in New Zealand radio history.
441:
He moved on to golf and then billiards, (he was NZ master's billiards champion in 1982). He said publicly that giving up golf for billiards was one of his stupider decisions, because instead of enjoying the health benefits of roaming golf courses he ended up standing around billiard tables late into
416:
Before Viagra was a legal prescription product in New
Zealand Bickerstaff was buying it off the web and on-selling it to his car dealer and horse trainer friends. In the process he got practised at talking to his mates about their sex lives. When Viagra was legally introduced he developed Ignite and
214:
He earned notoriety for the on-air Punch a Pom a Day campaign he initiated when All Black Keith
Murdoch was controversially sent home from a British tour in 1972. The campaign, which included bumper stickers and jokes at the expense of the British, resulted in assaults on those who were British, or
189:
Journalist Phil
Gifford, a fellow sports specialist, said the Broadcasting Corporation style of "the BBC crossed with a conservative insurance office" was never going to suit Bickerstaff's volcanic personality, and when he returned to New Zealand from Australia he was ready for something different.
164:
He began as a TV sports reporter with the New
Zealand Broadcasting Service in Rotorua, and spent seven years compiling radio and television shows for the service in Wellington, Dunedin, and Auckland. Bickerstaff was never a good "fit" for the conservative government-owned networks, and just as he'd
272:
One he most admired was someone many would not have even heard of, the blind athlete Craig MacFarlane. When interviewing high-profile real estate auctioneer Dick
Gladding 'live' on air on 15 June 1989, Tim asked Gladding if his agency used "ring-ins" to boost the bidding. Gladding replied, "Tim, I
141:
When Ian
Bickerstaff stopped competing himself, he became active as a sports administrator and young Tim was drawn into a passion for sport at an early age. As a teenager Bickerstaff junior won the New Zealand junior hammer throw event but he did not enjoy "feeling like a trophy" his father showed
211:"The combination of Sinclair and Tim Bickerstaff on Radio 'I's' Sportsline, was a must-listen in the 1970s â full of cheek, outrageous behaviour and constant questioning of players, and most of all, the way sport was administered. Gone were the days of radio sports hosts acting as cheerleaders".
230:"There has never been a pairing to match the warm, working-class Sinclair and controversial stirrer Bickerstaff. Their notables included introducing the Mad Butcher, Peter Leitch, to the city. Sinclair and Bickerstaff not only understood what made Auckland sport tick, they helped make it tick."
400:
Within two years Happy
Families developed their own brand of honey and bee venom products, known as Honeybalm and BV Relief, and for several years continued to focus on marketing honey-related products including honey and bee venom capsules, an Active Manuka cream, and Honeybalm For Pets for
369:
Bickerstaff describes how in 1977, nearly twenty years before Rugby finally went professional, he and former All Black Joe Karam formed a company called World
Professional Rugby and signed up a squad of 25 top Rugby players with a goal of organising a professional tournament, but the venture
273:
feel sick". To which Tim replied, "I thought you would say that". There was a long silent pause and Tim looked at
Gladding. He had suffered a heart attack and was dead in the studio chair. (This was believed to be the first time in the history of world radio that this had ever happened.)
295:
Bickerstaff was the original pioneer of 'Contra' and for most of his career, he was not paid a salary by the radio station. Rather he developed his own list of advertisers and sold their product on "time" â a certain number of minutes an hour â the station gave him in lieu of salary.
393:
Bickerstaff had injected himself with bee stings in the knee he'd originally injured as a teenage athlete after interviewing an expert on bee sting therapy (apitherapy) on his show. He was convinced of the effectiveness of bee venom for joint pain as a result of this experience.
226:
He suggested it was a golden period for radio, as private companies changed the airwaves, thanks to deregulation. Sinclair was supposed to be the bad cop and Bickerstaff the good when they first went to air, but the roles were reversed at Bickerstaff's instigation.
97:, New Zealand, one of two sons to Patricia Kathleen Bickerstaff (nÊe Stevens) and George Ian Bickerstaff, (known as Ian),. His father was a public accountant and sportsman who was at Napier Boys' High School when the Napier earthquake struck on 3 February 1931.
317:
The two met in the Wiri Trust Hotel bar. Sir Peter, then a dyslexic former grave digger just beginning in business with Rosella Meats, took exception to Sportsline getting stuck into the Mangere East Rugby League Club, of which he was already a keen supporter.
468:
Even in death, Bickerstaff made headlines around the world, after Halloween trick-or-treaters found the 67-year-old diabetic through a window, but when their door-knocking failed to rouse him, they entered the house and set off his medic alert bracelet.
245:
By 1979 Bickerstaff moved to Radio Pacific and filled a solo two-hour slot that combined sport with more general interest interviews, which ultimately added up to wide-ranging talks with 2000 of the world's leading personalities â in and out of sport.
353:
Sportsmen covered included cricketer Sir Richard Hadlee, yachtsman Chris Dickson, John Adshead, and Charlie Dempsey, the men behind the 1982 All Whites Soccer World Cup campaign, and All Blacks Buck Shelford, Don Clarke, and Keith Murdoch.
461:
In his late 50s Bickerstaff was diagnosed as diabetic, and his health gradually deteriorated over the next decade. In 2000 he moved to Whitianga, from where he was actively engaged with the Happy Families business until his death in 2009.
409:
Happy Families began promoting erectile dysfunction product Ignite after Bickerstaff began talking publicly about male impotence in the mid 1990s, one of the first public figures to be willing to talk openly about this male health issue.
222:
sports writer Chris Rattue, formed the finest radio double act New Zealand has produced. Their show was compulsory listening in his schooldays in the 1970s, as they made a wonderful chalk-and-cheese team, full of humour and irreverence.
373:
He foresaw an era of professional sport and was involved in backing the controversial Rebel Cavaliers Rugby tour to South Africa in 1986, after an official All Black tour had been blocked by a court injunction the year before.
171:
He recalled Tim was always larger-than-life and no respecter of authority. He spent his lunchtimes beating all comers at table tennis and letting everyone hear his opinions on the world, "whether they wanted to or not."
420:
Over the next decade, he became identified with Ignite as he did live callouts and voiced radio ads for the product. He answered the 0800 line for several hours each day and personally talked to many of his customers.
445:
Boxing was a lifelong obsession, and Tim attended several world title fights which included Muhammad Ali regaining the title from Leon Spinks and Sugar Ray Leonard avenging his defeat at the hands of Roberto Duran.
321:
He ended up taking (and losing) bets off air with Bickerstaff, so when the radio man tried to sell him advertising he decided it was more sensible to spend the money promoting his business than losing it gambling.
76:
radio talkback host, sports broadcaster, newspaper columnist, and author who pioneered talkback radio in New Zealand. Over nearly 40 years (1960â1997) he honed a reputation as New Zealand's version of Australia's
193:"At the NZBC his most memorable moment was the time during the Saturday night television news when the camera panned down to reveal he was reading results directly from the 8 O'Clock sports newspaper".
302:
TVs, refrigerators, microwaves, or Souvenir editions of All Black or All White books â Bickerstaff sold them all, while at the same time drawing listeners with his controversial commentaries on sport.
280:
For several years I had the pleasure of talking for 20 minutes every week with him when he moved to Radio Pacific, and to this day I have never worked with a sharper mind, or a more attentive listener.
105:
Bickerstaff's parents divorced while he was a pre-schooler and he and his brother Dale stayed with extended family until his father remarried Mary Patricia Jaffray (known as Molly).
424:
Eventually, Ignite and a prostate health product (once called Quup, now Prostate Power Flow) became Happy Families lead products and the honey and bee venom line was withdrawn.
390:
In 1997 he founded a health products company, Happy Families Ltd with partner Jenny Wheeler, and became the first to advertise honey with added bee venom as a joint supplement.
331:
They remained friends for life. Sir Peter attended Bickerstaff's sixtieth birthday party, regularly called him to enquire after his well being, and spoke at his 2009 funeral.
397:
When he heard Nelson apiarist Phil Cropp was making Nectarease, a honey with added bee venom, he offered to market it if he could have exclusive rights to directly sell it.
325:
Leitch said in a newspaper interview he was sipping beer with Bickerstaff "and this Maori guy walks in, points to him and says: 'Hey, there's that ----ing mad butcher!'"
168:
Rob Crabtree worked with Bickerstaff as one of the sports reporters for the New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation (NZBC) at Broadcasting House, Wellington, in 1964â65.
465:
He died of a heart attack, sitting peacefully in his chair waiting for an All Blacks play Australia in Tokyo game to begin, at his Whitianga home on 31 October 2009.
205:
Phil Gifford said Tim Bickerstaff didn't just blaze a trail in sports talk on radio in New Zealand as much as "dynamite the landscape, and change it forever."
438:
From a keen sporting family, Bickerstaff's athletics career ended almost before it began when he damaged his right knee training in the hammer throw event.
215:
even perceived as British, his Mercedes Benz being vandalised with a crowbar and a car dealer who sponsored his show having 40 tyres slashed in his yard.
413:
Ignite was launched in early 1999 as an herbal alternative to pharmaceutical medicines like Viagra which were being launched in the New Zealand market.
680:"NZ Herald: New Zealand's Latest News, Business, Sport, Weather, Travel, Technology, Entertainment, Politics, Finance, Health, Environment and Science"
350:
The book was a nostalgic review of incidents of high and low moments in sport, giving the Bickerstaff perspective on "what really happened."
276:
These interviews revealed a different side to a broadcaster who'd become notorious for stirring controversy. Said journalist Phil Gifford:
151:
Towards the end of his schooling the family moved to Rotorua, and it was there in 1960 that Bickerstaff got his first job in broadcasting.
427:
Happy Families was sold to Intenza NZ Ltd after Bickerstaff's death in 2009 and now focuses on sexual health products for men and women.
148:
Bickerstaff did not thrive at school but became fascinated with sports and became a walking encyclopaedia of sporting general knowledge.
622:
900:
895:
724:
382:
During his radio career, Bickerstaff invested in several businesses, including a Howick sports shop and the Ramarama Country Inn.
890:
111:
After his parents' separation, he did not see his mother again until he was an adult and did not get on with his step-mother.
885:
572:
547:
208:
New Zealand radio listeners had heard nothing like it. Said Radio Broadcasters Association Chief Executive Bill Francis:
786:
648:
138:
His father was an ambitious man who was proud of his own record as a sprinter and pushed his sons to compete and win.
130:, he recalled his parents were very social and he and his brother felt they did not "figure in the scheme of things."
847:
186:
In 1967 he headed to Australia, where he worked in both radio and television, with 3DB and Channel 7 in Melbourne.
328:
The expletive deleted throw-away-line became a household name through many years of advertising with Bickerstaff.
178:
From Wellington, he was appointed to Dunedin's 4ZB to work with legendary sports broadcaster Peter (PHJ) Sellers.
698:
679:
357:
Published by Hilton Valentine, a company the quartet formed for the purpose, it was a Father's Day best-seller.
32:
196:
When he returned to Auckland in 1970 he took up a job as a sports editor at Radio I, a private radio station.
492:
589:
175:
Radio talkback hadn't started in those days, but Tim was obviously headed in that direction, he said.
750:
430:
Bickerstaff was happily actively engaged with the Happy Families business until his death in 2009.
145:"I tried to protect myself from the shining light and built a barrier between me and the world."
880:
875:
370:
ultimately failed because they could not find another international team to play against.
8:
94:
39:
782:
568:
543:
249:
Beginning with world champion mile athlete John (now Sir John) Walker, they included
311:
258:
266:
525:
Births Deaths and Marriages Central Registry Folio No 2711/63 Ref No 1110898 3
869:
262:
254:
250:
142:
off, and was not sorry when a knee injury ended his short athletics career.
656:
82:
78:
282:
He broadcast his last sports show on Auckland station The Point in 1997.
73:
832:
Keane, Phillipa (28 January 1999). "Herbal love pill takes on Viagra".
817:
Stirling, Pamela (6 January 1996). "Sex: Lifting Men's Performance".
453:, Muhammad Ali was his pick as the greatest fighter that ever lived.
339:
During the 1980s Bickerstaff regularly wrote a sports column for the
516:
New Zealand Birth Certificate Record National Number 1942/487/7257
442:
the night â with subsequent impact on his weight and his fitness.
802:
Ninness, Greg (September 1997). "Just the bee's knees says Tim".
165:
been a rebel at school, he did not quietly accept "the rules."
565:
One of the Boys, Changing Views of Masculinity in New Zealand
540:
One of the Boys, Changing Views of Masculinity in New Zealand
310:
As Rattue recorded, Bickerstaff was responsible for giving
299:
He had a company called Artnoc (Contra spelled backwards).
725:"RUGBY LEAGUE: Mad Butcher made name with throwaway line"
237:
the inner rogue was always near the surface with Tim. I"
47:
43:
360:
404:
347:with Josh Easby, Jenny Wheeler, and John Andrews.
305:
334:
199:
867:
623:"Bickerstaff set rules for sports talk on radio"
377:
269:(author), and Xavier Hollander (porn actress).
154:
42:. Consider transferring direct quotations to
128:Changing Views of Masculinity in New Zealand
848:"Talkback personality Tim Bickerstaff dies"
776:
133:
72:(28 November 1942 â 31 October 2009) was a
533:
531:
114:
108:His childhood was not particularly happy.
616:
614:
612:
610:
486:
484:
482:
240:
218:The Bickerstaff -Sinclair match-up, said
825:
816:
772:
770:
768:
742:
587:
801:
646:
620:
556:
528:
490:
456:
265:(golfer), Jean Houston, (psychologist)
868:
699:"Don't Try Nations borders on a fraud"
696:
607:
479:
831:
765:
722:
690:
33:too many or overly lengthy quotations
562:
537:
15:
748:
716:
257:(actor) Billy Connelly (comedian),
13:
677:
653:Radio Broadcasters Association Inc
621:Gifford, Phil (10 November 2009).
588:Crabtree, Rob (11 December 2009).
493:"Goodbye Timothy John Bickerstaff"
491:Wheeler, Jenny (2 November 2009).
385:
361:Bickerstaff and professional rugby
100:
14:
912:
365:In the first chapter of his book
343:. In 1998 he wrote and published
290:
723:Singh, ANENDRA (19 April 2006).
433:
405:Male Impotence and Herbal Ignite
285:
20:
901:Mass media people from Auckland
896:People from Napier, New Zealand
840:
810:
795:
781:. Hong Kong: Hilton Valentine.
306:Bickerstaff and the Mad Butcher
123:in a Michael King edited book,
697:Rattue, Chris (27 July 2011).
671:
647:Francis, Bill (27 July 2011).
640:
581:
519:
510:
335:Newspaper columnist and author
200:Sportsline with Geoff Sinclair
88:
1:
891:New Zealand radio journalists
590:"Recalling the talkback king"
472:
159:
886:New Zealand radio presenters
649:"RBA Salutes Geoff Sinclair"
378:Health products entrepreneur
314:his Mad Butcher "nickname".
181:
7:
505:Career as a Viagra Importer
401:arthritic dogs and horses.
155:Radio and television career
10:
917:
751:"Talkback host farewelled"
542:. Heinemann. p. 122.
417:began marketing on radio.
777:Bickerstaff, Tim (1998).
567:. Hinemann. p. 124.
233:As Gifford noted in the
134:Relationship with father
93:Bickerstaff was born in
70:Timothy John Bickerstaff
40:summarize the quotations
115:Childhood recollections
684:The New Zealand Herald
563:King, Michael (1988).
538:King, Michael (1988).
241:Radio Pacific Talkback
753:. Mid Life Rocks Blog
457:Ill health and death
119:In a chapter titled
779:Heroes and Villains
495:. MidlifeRocks Blog
451:Heroes and Villains
367:Heroes and Villains
345:Heroes and Villains
81:or US "shock jock"
220:New Zealand Herald
804:Sunday Star times
627:Sunday Star Times
574:978-0-86863-425-8
549:978-0-86863-425-8
235:Sunday Star Times
65:
64:
908:
860:
859:
857:
855:
844:
838:
837:
829:
823:
822:
814:
808:
807:
799:
793:
792:
774:
763:
762:
760:
758:
749:Wheeler, Jenny.
746:
740:
739:
737:
735:
729:Hawkes Bay Today
720:
714:
713:
711:
709:
694:
688:
687:
675:
669:
668:
666:
664:
655:. Archived from
644:
638:
637:
635:
633:
618:
605:
604:
602:
600:
585:
579:
578:
560:
554:
553:
535:
526:
523:
517:
514:
508:
507:
502:
500:
488:
312:Sir Peter Leitch
125:One of the Boys?
60:
57:
51:
24:
23:
16:
916:
915:
911:
910:
909:
907:
906:
905:
866:
865:
864:
863:
853:
851:
846:
845:
841:
830:
826:
815:
811:
800:
796:
789:
775:
766:
756:
754:
747:
743:
733:
731:
721:
717:
707:
705:
695:
691:
678:Rattue, Chris.
676:
672:
662:
660:
645:
641:
631:
629:
619:
608:
598:
596:
594:Pakuranga Times
586:
582:
575:
561:
557:
550:
536:
529:
524:
520:
515:
511:
498:
496:
489:
480:
475:
459:
436:
407:
388:
386:Bee Venom Honey
380:
363:
337:
308:
293:
288:
259:Ruth Westheimer
243:
202:
184:
162:
157:
136:
117:
103:
101:Parents divorce
91:
61:
55:
52:
46:or excerpts to
37:
25:
21:
12:
11:
5:
914:
904:
903:
898:
893:
888:
883:
878:
862:
861:
839:
824:
809:
794:
788:978-0473051945
787:
764:
741:
715:
689:
670:
659:on 25 May 2012
639:
606:
580:
573:
555:
548:
527:
518:
509:
477:
476:
474:
471:
458:
455:
435:
432:
406:
403:
387:
384:
379:
376:
362:
359:
336:
333:
307:
304:
292:
291:King of Contra
289:
287:
284:
267:Jackie Collins
261:(sexologist),
242:
239:
201:
198:
183:
180:
161:
158:
156:
153:
135:
132:
116:
113:
102:
99:
90:
87:
63:
62:
28:
26:
19:
9:
6:
4:
3:
2:
913:
902:
899:
897:
894:
892:
889:
887:
884:
882:
879:
877:
874:
873:
871:
849:
843:
835:
828:
820:
813:
805:
798:
790:
784:
780:
773:
771:
769:
752:
745:
730:
726:
719:
704:
700:
693:
685:
681:
674:
658:
654:
650:
643:
628:
624:
617:
615:
613:
611:
595:
591:
584:
576:
570:
566:
559:
551:
545:
541:
534:
532:
522:
513:
506:
494:
487:
485:
483:
478:
470:
466:
463:
454:
452:
447:
443:
439:
434:Sporting life
431:
428:
425:
422:
418:
414:
411:
402:
398:
395:
391:
383:
375:
371:
368:
358:
355:
351:
348:
346:
342:
332:
329:
326:
323:
319:
315:
313:
303:
300:
297:
286:Business life
283:
281:
277:
274:
270:
268:
264:
263:Jack Nicklaus
260:
256:
255:Mickey Rooney
252:
251:Glen Campbell
247:
238:
236:
231:
228:
224:
221:
216:
212:
209:
206:
197:
194:
191:
187:
179:
176:
173:
169:
166:
152:
149:
146:
143:
139:
131:
129:
126:
122:
121:Good Keen Man
112:
109:
106:
98:
96:
86:
84:
80:
75:
71:
67:
59:
56:November 2011
49:
45:
41:
35:
34:
29:This article
27:
18:
17:
852:. Retrieved
842:
833:
827:
819:The Listener
818:
812:
803:
797:
778:
755:. Retrieved
744:
732:. Retrieved
728:
718:
706:. Retrieved
702:
692:
683:
673:
661:. Retrieved
657:the original
652:
642:
630:. Retrieved
626:
597:. Retrieved
593:
583:
564:
558:
539:
521:
512:
504:
497:. Retrieved
467:
464:
460:
450:
449:In his book
448:
444:
440:
437:
429:
426:
423:
419:
415:
412:
408:
399:
396:
392:
389:
381:
372:
366:
364:
356:
352:
349:
344:
340:
338:
330:
327:
324:
320:
316:
309:
301:
298:
294:
279:
278:
275:
271:
248:
244:
234:
232:
229:
225:
219:
217:
213:
210:
207:
203:
195:
192:
188:
185:
177:
174:
170:
167:
163:
150:
147:
144:
140:
137:
127:
124:
120:
118:
110:
107:
104:
92:
83:Howard Stern
79:Derryn Hinch
69:
68:
66:
53:
38:Please help
30:
881:2009 deaths
876:1942 births
834:Sunday Star
341:Sunday News
89:Early years
74:New Zealand
870:Categories
663:20 January
473:References
253:(singer),
160:NZBC years
48:Wikisource
854:7 October
757:7 October
734:7 October
708:7 October
703:NZ herald
632:4 October
599:4 October
499:3 October
182:Melbourne
44:Wikiquote
31:contains
850:. TVNZ
785:
571:
546:
95:Napier
856:2011
783:ISBN
759:2011
736:2011
710:2011
665:2021
634:2011
601:2011
569:ISBN
544:ISBN
501:2011
872::
767:^
727:.
701:.
682:.
651:.
625:.
609:^
592:.
530:^
503:.
481:^
85:.
858:.
836:.
821:.
806:.
791:.
761:.
738:.
712:.
686:.
667:.
636:.
603:.
577:.
552:.
58:)
54:(
50:.
36:.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.