New Zealand man paid $16,000 salary to be ‘professional wizard’
There’s a lot of strange jobs out there, but perhaps none more so than the occupation of this New Zealand man, who gets paid to cast spells.
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There are a lot of strange jobs out there these days, but perhaps none more so than the occupation of 87-year-old New Zealand man Ian Brackenbury Channell.
He’s been making a living as a professional wizard for the past 30 years.
But he’s now trying to retire, and is looking for an apprentice to pass on the magical mantle.
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Mr Channell, AKA The Wizard, was asked in 1990 by then New Zealand Prime Minister Mike Moore to become the official wizard of “New Zealand, Antarctica and relevant offshore areas”.
“No doubt there will be implications in the area of spells, blessings, curses, and other supernatural matters that are beyond the competence of mere Prime Ministers,” Mr Moore added.
By then, Mr Channell was a well known performer and quite famous after a stroke of good luck two years prior.
In 1988, Waimate – a town not far from the South Island’s capital city, Christchurch – was in the grips of a drought.
The organisers of a local agriculture fair invited Mr Channell to perform a rain dance, and, according to The Wizard, rain fell only a few hours after he began beating his drum.
“The Wizard adjourned to the refreshment tent to watch the downpour and partake of the free whiskeys that were thrust into his hands by the visibly shaken farmers,” his website says.
But Mr Channell’s biggest break came in 1998, when he was hired by the Christchurch Council and has since been paid $NZ16,000 ($A15,000) a year.
Christchurch City Council contracted him to “provide acts of wizardry and other wizard-like-services as part of promotional work for the city of Christchurch,” according to a council spokesperson.
His official duties include promoting local events and tourism and greeting and showing dignitaries around, according to the council.
Mr Channell, UK-born, moved to New Zealand in the 1970s and never looked back.
He’s become an icon of Christchurch, moving through the city centre in pointed hats and long cloaks.
“Every day the world gets more serious, so fun is the most powerful thing in the world right now,” The Wizard told CNN.
He has a Tripadvisor score of four out of five stars.
Mr Channell even has a New Zealand driver’s license issued to him under the name of The Wizard.
But now age 87, he wants to settle down and enjoy the perks of retirement.
Mr Channell plans to pass the baton – or should we say hat – onto 39-year-old Ari Freeman.
Mr Freeman sports a long beard and has been The Wizard‘s apprentice for six years.
The young apprentice always had his eyes on becoming the next official wizard, and in 2014, took matters into his own hands.
He walked up to The Wizard and told him: “Hi, I‘m Ari, and I’m a young wizard.”
“OK, let’s get started then,” Mr Channell replied.
Originally published as New Zealand man paid $16,000 salary to be ‘professional wizard’