Who is Fred Dagg and why do we like him so much?

As you've probably worked out, there is a bit of a theme going on with our blog site, namely the references to the NZ iconic character, Fred Dagg (see About Us image).

For those of you who are unaware, Fred Dagg is a character created by the satirist John Clarke. Clarke was a well known icon in NZ during the 1970's, on both TV and in literature, appearing on the one channel NZ had back then (we've got 4 now!), and publishing numerous satirist works. More recently he has lived in Australia since 1979 where like pavlova, Phar Lapp, Crowded House and anything else remotely successful he has been claimed by the Australian's. Clarke often appears satirising Australian politicians on TV.

But, back to the character Fred Dagg. Dagg is supposed to be the stereotypical New Zealand farmer and good bloke; clad in a black singlet and gumboots, he comes from the self proclaimed gumboot capital of the world, Taihape in the central North Island.

We've kind of adopted Fred Dagg as an icon because in many ways he optimises the perceptions of the laid back, but hard working and genuine, Kiwi good bloke. We find much of his work still pretty funny and in tribute (or due to nothing else to do) we'll be adding various clips onto the blog at different points which we'll hope you enjoy.