Hastings: A boy's own adventure

by Dick Frizzell

‘ If I' d been asked to vote on it I would' ve said I' d landed at the centre of the universe. Standing on our corner of Sylvan Road and Victoria Street, with Te Mata Peak, the Tukituki River and the mad wilderness of Windsor Park to the back of me and the distinctly non-wilderness of Cornwall Park and the misty vista of the Ruahines in front of me, I was the master of all I could barely survey.' So writes the much-loved painter Dick Frizzell in this charming, big-hearted memoir. It' s an endearing, and at times hilarious, love letter to his home town, Hastings, and the weirdly innocent world of the 1950s and early 1960s.

296 pages, Hardcover

Published March 13, 2025

About the author

Richard John Frizzell MNZM (born 1943) is a New Zealand artist & author.

Frizzell's best-known work uses as its base the "Four Square man", an advertising character for the Four Square grocery chain.

Reviews

[Daniel Headifen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved it. Almost my home town. I’d heard about caves at Te Mata peak, and possibly as cavernous as he writes about, but in probably a thousand visits, I’ve never seen them. We visited the freezing works and Watties for school trips so lots of memories. Xmas present brought, I think, from Ōtaki bookstore

[Carol Griffiths · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a rollicking memoir of life in Hastings, New Zealand as a young person in the 1950s and 1960s. Frizzell's writing is hilarious and if you are of a certain vintage you will recognise and appreciate many of the situations described. The book does give some insight into Frizzell's development as an artist, but it is mainly about the trials and tribulations - as well as the joys- of growing up.