Geoff's Newsflash I'm Officially A Kiwi!

Broadcaster Geoff Bryan has been a genial fixture on our screens and airwaves for 42 years. But it may surprise Kiwis to know that he’s only been a New Zealand citizen since March 25.

- Amy Prebble

“It’s not before time,” he admits. “We arrived here in 1967. I was talking to my dear old Dad, who’s 90 now. His memory is that he and Mum became citizens straight away. So I said to him, ‘Why didn’t you do me at the same time?’ He said, ‘Oh, we didn’t really think about it.’”

Geoff (62) says becoming a citizen was always something he intended to do but never quite got around to. “I’ve always felt as though I’m a New Zealander born in England. I never really felt I needed a piece of paper to prove I was a Kiwi,” he says.

The Magic Music breakfast host says the timing made his citizenship ceremony poignant.

“It was the first one after the March 15 shootings in Christchurch and there was a lot of reference to that in the ceremony. There were 400 of us and 49 different countries represented. There was a kaumaÌ„tua there – he was 84 – who shared a hongi with most of the 400. It was very moving and at times emotional.”