Bob Jones (New Zealand)
Sir Robert 'Bob' Jones (born 1939) is a property tycoon, author and former politician in New Zealand. Growing up in the City of Lower Hutt suburb of Naenae, he attended Naenae College and then Victoria University of Wellington. During his time there, he contributed to a boxing column in the university's newspaper Salient (magazine).
Jones earned his wealth through investments in commercial property via his company Robt. Jones Holdings Ltd, and is currently worth $200 million according to the 2007 NBR rich list.
He formed the short-lived neo-liberal New Zealand Party in 1983, just before Robert Muldoon's snap 1984 election. When the election was over, Jones disbanded the party. In 1985, Jones was reached while out fishing in a remote valley in Taupo by reporters in a helicopter, which included TVNZ journalist Rod Vaughan. Upon realising the reporters spotted him, Jones infamously punched Vaughan in the nose, with the whole incident recorded on tape.[1][2][3][4]
He attempted to remove the Fijian Embassy from one of his properties during the time of the 1987 Fijian Coup.
Jones is alleged to shun recent technology; he reportedly hand-writes all of his books by choice, and has been cited in the Sunday Star-Times as refusing to own a mobile phone. The Sunday Star-Times published a subsequent report on 22 October 2006, however, in which he denied elements of the previous week's report and said that he had no aversion to modern technology.
He is the older brother of prizewinning author Lloyd Jones.
[edit] References
- ^ "LAW: Private rights, public screenings". The Sunday Star-Times. 1 January 2009. http://www.stuff.co.nz/sundaystartimes/4317192a6619.html. Retrieved 21 September 2011.
- ^ Film Archive - 6:30 News, TVNZ, 9/7/1985
- ^ Film Archive - 6:30 News, TVNZ, 10/7/1985
- ^ NZ On Screen: Eyewitness News - Bob Jones punches reporter Rod Vaughan
