Christchurch's Wizard Sacked

[Bigphoot2]

Yes folks, Christchurch in New Zealand has or did have a wizard!

The Christchurch City Council will stop paying The Wizard $16,000 a year after more than two decades on the public payroll to “provide acts of wizardry” for the city.

Full Story:
https://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/n...ueTgfzxt2arQ5yHrNSsa9Dg7Hacv1s-oBgj47o90-q54s

 

[Mythopoeika]

He is probably old enough to retire, but then wizards don't really retire, do they?

 

[Trevp666]

Maybe they just stop working for a short spell

 

[blessmycottonsocks]

New Zealand council ends contract with wizard after two decades of service:​

The official Wizard of New Zealand, Ian Brackenbury Channell, perhaps the only state-appointed wizard in the world, has been cast from the public payroll, spelling the end to a 23-year legacy.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...ract-with-wizard-after-two-decades-of-service

 

[Mikefule]

New Zealand council ends contract with wizard after two decades of service:​

The official Wizard of New Zealand, Ian Brackenbury Channell, perhaps the only state-appointed wizard in the world, has been cast from the public payroll, spelling the end to a 23-year legacy.

View attachment 46641

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...ract-with-wizard-after-two-decades-of-service

Wow, a wizard who uses the same joke writer as Jimmy Carr, apparently.

 

[ramonmercado]

New Zealand council ends contract with wizard after two decades of service:​

The official Wizard of New Zealand, Ian Brackenbury Channell, perhaps the only state-appointed wizard in the world, has been cast from the public payroll, spelling the end to a 23-year legacy.

View attachment 46641

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...ract-with-wizard-after-two-decades-of-service

Reminds me of when Quasimodo was made redundant, he got a lump sum in back money.

 

[Mythopoeika]

Reminds me of when Quasimodo was made redundant, he got a lump sum in back money.

I'm sure that helped him get over the hump.

 

[lordmongrove]

Humorless bureaucrats sack Christchurch's wizard.

 

[blessmycottonsocks]

Wow, a wizard who uses the same joke writer as Jimmy Carr, apparently.

The council was sick of him turning up to council meetings with grubby bare feet. He was getting a bit past it anyway and had been diagnosed with brittle bone osteoporosis. There had also been numerous complaints about his severe bad breath.

Yes ... wait for it ...

He was a super calloused fragile mystic hexed by halitosis....

 

[Lb8535]

I wonder if this was a PR stunt in connection with LOTR and someone just noticed it was ongoing?

 

[KerryDF]

Nah I live in Christchurch and this is nothing LOTR related, he's been at it since at least the 1970s. I'm 50 and I recall seeing him in Cathedral Square (the central square in the CBD) when I was small child. Used to have a regular time of day that he'd stand up on a step-ladder and spout a spiel...it was all very Monty Python type stuff. It used to be a fun image for the city - he'd be on all the souvenir postcards etc. Since the earthquakes a decade ago people don't really congregate in the square like they used to. He likes to make statements to prove how very un-PC he is these days..I think everyone has just moved on without him.