Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: New Zealand is duller without Sir Bob Jones

Very sad news this afternoon that Bob Jones has passed away. 

It's not altogether a surprise – he was getting on in age, and he had been feeling unwell and slowing down for at least a couple of years. 

But still, it is the passing of a great, colourful, larger than life character. 

I can’t remember when I first met Bob, but I've known him for close to twenty years. 

He was actually the first person I saw at my wedding on my wedding day... because he was leaving. 

I was late —which frankly is a bride’s prerogative— but he was so cross at how late I was that he stormed out of the wedding, bumped into me outside, fortunately turned around and went back in. 

And then afterwards, he gave me a rundown of the things he enjoyed and didn't enjoy about the wedding, inducing: could’ve kept the champagne and canapes going for longer and could've skipped the dinner. 

He gave some pretty unusual life advice. 

When I was pregnant with my son, we had dinner with Bob one night and he spent a long time telling me that my son would wear me out because boys are energetic, and that if I had a girl next I would probably think there was something wrong with her, and might want to take her to the doctor but there would be nothing wrong with her – boys are just more energetic than girls.  

He was right of course. 

Not everyone loves Bob. I know that. He was a polarising character, but he had something that many of us could learn from, and that was a wicked sense of humour. 

He laughed a lot. He played pranks. He enjoyed mocking things he didn’t like. 

He was incredibly wealthy, but not pretentious – e grew up in a state house in Naenae after all. 

And he was very clever. Read anything he’s written – you’ll wish you could write like him.  

I count myself lucky to have known Bob Jones. 

He's one of those characters we seemed to have had a lot of in the 70s and 80s but don't seem to make nowadays. 

As someone else said today: New Zealand is duller without him. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, it is very sad news this afternoon that Bob
Jones has passed away. It is not altogether a surprise,
because Bob Jones was getting on in age, and he
had actually been feeling pretty unwell and slowing down quite
a lot, just over the last couple of years at least.
But still, even though these things happen, and you know
they're going to happen, it is the passing of a
great and colorful and larger than life character. Today. Now,

(00:21):
I can't remember the first time that I met Bob Jones.
I've known him for close to twenty years. He was
actually the first person that I saw at my wedding
on my wedding day, but not for a good reason.
It's because he was leaving because I was late. I
thought it was a bride's prerogative, you got to stretch
it out as much as you possibly can. But I
was that late that he was so cross he was
actually walking out in protests. Fortunately I bumped into him

(00:45):
on my way in. He turned around and went back in,
and then there was there for the wedding. Afterwards, though,
he gave me a rundown of all the things that
he enjoyed and didn't enjoy about the wedding, apparently, could
have kept the champagne and cannopeys going for longer, could
have skipped the dinner. He gave some pretty unusual life advice.
I mean, he was not short of an opinion was here.
And the life advice that I remember most clearly and

(01:07):
which has proved to be bang on, is when I
was pregnant with my son. We had a dinner with
Bob one night, and he spent a very long time
telling me that my son would wear me out because
boys are energetic, and that if I had a girl
after the boy, I'd probably think there was something wrong
with her, and I might want it to take it,
might want to take her to the doctor, but there
would be nothing wrong with her because boys are just
more energetic than girls. And to bear that in mind,

(01:28):
and I am bearing that in mind. And of course
he's been proven right now. I know not everyone loves Bob.
Bob was a very polarizing character. I mean, he punched
a reporter interrupting his fishing. He launched a party to
run against Muldoon. He featured in countless court cases. He
didn't mind rubbing people up the wrong way, but he
had something that I think a lot of us could
learn from, and that was a wicked sense of humor.
He laughed a lot, he played pranks, He enjoyed mocking

(01:51):
things that he didn't like. He was incredibly wealthy, but
he was never pretentious. I mean he grew up in
a state house in nine nine, after all, and he
was very, very clever. I mean, you go away and
read anything that he's written, and you would wish that
you could write like him. Now, of all the people
that I know, I count myself lucky to have known
Bob Jones. He's the kind of person I think my

(02:12):
grandkids will ask me about one day. He's one of
those characters we seem to have had a lot of
in the seventies and eighties, but we don't seem to
make nowadays. And as someone else said, today, New Zealand
is Duller without him. For more from Heather Duplessy Allen Drive,
listen live to news Talks. It'd be from four pm weekdays,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.