Saturday Morning with Jack Tame

Ben Macintyre captivates readers with true stories.  

He expertly unravels complex historical events, explaining sharp subplots and side characters while artfully deploying dry humour to make the true stories he tells digestible.   

His most recent non-fiction work is The Siege – a story of how in April 1980, six men stormed the Iranian embassy in London and took 26 hostages they held for six days.  

Macintyre told Jack Tame he was 17 when the situation took place, and since that point he’d always wanted to write about it. 

“It was the most dramatic thing I’d ever se...

Prominent businessman, author and former politician Sir Bob Jones has died in Wellington after a brief illness - aged 85.  

Jones formed the New Zealand Party in 1983, which stood for 10 years.   

He received a knighthood in 1989 for services to business management and the community.  

Kevin Milne told Jack Tame he will be remembered as a terrific writer. 

He says Wellington already feels all the more grey for his passing. 

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One of New Zealand’s most treasured musical acts, Sir Dave Dobbyn, will perform at Auckland Town Hall, the first time he has hit the stage there solo.

The 68-year-old has previously performed at the prestigious venue with his band Th’ Dudes, but has never showcased his own set. That will change on June 4, when he and his touring band look to cover songs from his 45-year recording career.

Announced as part of the Auckland Winter Concert Series lineup, Dobbyn and his band will perform everything from his celebrated anthems to “an extraordinary catalogue of deeper...

The Good Mistress by Anne Tiernan  

Juliet never planned to be the other woman, but Rory was the only man she'd ever loved. She was sure he'd leave his frustratingly perfect wife - until he went and ghosted her, literally. Maeve is a bestselling novelist, and yet between her exasperating husband, teenage sons and ailing mother, success feels hollow. When she dallies in a surprising infidelity of her own, her carefully constructed life begins to unravel. Erica was the perfect wife, but Rory knew things about her that no-one else can ever know. And now she's left w...

"Budapest has long been a punching bag for invading powers and battled over by a litany of imperial bullies. But the legacy is a city stacked with historic layer upon layer of intrigue and faded glory, some layers still decaying while others have been ambitiously restored.  I was back in the Hungarian capital with Trafalgar, one of the headline stops on their splendidly curated 10-day Imperial Europe tour."

Read Mike's full article here.

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Although we all try, budgeting doesn't work for everyone. Instead, Ed McKnight has what he calls the 'Economist's Pay Routine', an alternative that allows you to budget without budgeting.

He joined Jack Tame to break down the method.

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On the Saturday Morning with Jack Tame Full Show Podcast for Saturday 3 May 2025, author Ben Macintyre joins Jack to discuss his expertise in espionage and latest non-fiction book ‘The Siege’ ahead of his trip to NZ for the Writer's Festival. 

Jack reflects on dear memories. 

Nici Wickes serves up a recipe that can be whipped up in no time with ingredients you likely already have in the pantry. 

Now is the time to act to protect your stonefruit for next summer. Man-in-the-garden Ruud Kleinpaste discusses what to look out for and the importance of timi...

With Mother’s Day coming up soon, many will be casting around for ideas of what to get that special figure in their life. 

Kate Hall has a few ideas on how to keep the day sustainable. 

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Last week we discussed the six-month hiatus between noticing troubles with stone fruit and the time of activating prevention.  

Peach leaf curl is a rather ugly fungal disease that commences 6 months from now – in spring the leaf curl starts to become obvious on the newly emerged leaves of your peach trees.  

Taphrina deformans is the name of the disease that targets peaches and nectarines. The infection begins in autumn when the leaves are falling to the ground – a double dose of copper (a few times, 3 or 4 weeks apart) will stop the fungi from settli...

Apple has given more details on the US tariffs  

iPhones being sold in the June quarter in the USA will be made in India, while almost all iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and AirPods products will be made in Vietnam. Products made in China will be sold elsewhere in the world.  

Apple estimates that, pending nothing else changing, the tariffs will cost them US$900 million. Imports going forward will, at this stage, be exempt from the tariffs.  

Meta is working to make your WhatsApp AI chats more private  

They'll be creat...

Choir Games  

A documentary series about how music can change lives, as it follows two choirs from New York and Kaitaia as they take part in the World Choir Games in Aotearoa last year (Neon, from Sunday).  

The Four Seasons   

The decades-long friendship between three married couples is tested when one divorces, complicating their tradition of quarterly weekend getaways (Netflix).

Carême

The world's first celebrity chef, Antonin Carême rises to the height of culinary stardom in Napoleon's Europe; his talent attracts the attention of polit...

Marlon Williams: Ngā Ao E Rua – Two Worlds 

Filmed over the course of four years, this documentary follows musician Marlon Williams as he takes on a deeply personal project — producing his first album entirely in te reo Māori, Te Whare Tīwekaweka. Williams began his musical journey as a teen, songwriting in Lyttleton, then carved out his own distinctive country sound that quickly took him to the world stage. Now, through te reo Māori, he sets out to reconnect with his Ngāi Tahu and Ngāi Tai roots.  

Directed by Ursula Grace Williams in...

From thinking about it to plating it up... 10 minutes maximum for these boozy caramelised bananas! This is the best don’t-have-much-in-the-house dessert.   

Serves 4  

Ingredients 

Method 

I was taken aback by how long it had been since I’d last come to town.  

It’s amazing how time creeps up on you like that. One minute you’re at Grandma and Grandad’s place every few months, knocking around with your siblings. The next you’re going through Grandad’s drawers, packing him a bag of his most precious possessions. The next, you realise it’s three years since you even drove down his street.  

State Highway One was an absolute shocker. I was driving the old straight line, heading South from Christchurc...

Ed Gamble is a man of many hats. 

Champion of the Taskmaster UK, podcast co-host, author, television host, standup comedian – on top of this, he’s an absolute food fanatic. 

He’s bringing a feast of comedy to New Zealand with his new show ‘Hot Diggity Dog’, filled with his classic “ranting, raving and spluttering”. 

Gamble told Jack Tame he describes the show as a collection of things that have happened to him since he last did a show, including a bit about his disastrous honeymoon and one about buying a cat with his wife.  

Samantha Fish is offering up nine new powerhouse songs on her latest album ‘Paper Doll’. 

It’s Fish’s 13th album, and the first she’s recorded with her touring band, leaning into her strengths as a musician in a way she hasn’t before. 

Estelle Clifford joined Jack Tame to give her thoughts on the new release. 

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The Perfect Divorce by Jeneva Rose  

Till death do us part. Yours. Not Mine. It's been eleven years since high-powered attorney Sarah Morgan defended her husband, Adam, against the charge of murdering his mistress.  

The Paris Express by Emma Donoghue  

Europe is racing towards the future. Steam travel is the emblem of progress; industry and invention are creating ever greater wealth and ever greater deprivation; and on an autumn day in 1895 a young woman determined to make her mark on history boards the Granville to Paris Express with a bomb.  

With...

Kevin Milne has been doing some research into his family history recently – notably the deaths of three of his uncles. 

All three were soldiers in the First World War, and Kevin was surprised how much research already exists into the lives of New Zealand’s fallen soldiers. 

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On the Saturday Morning with Jack Tame Full Show Podcast for Saturday 26 April 2025, the master of combining comedy with his love for food, Ed Gamble joins Jack ahead of his tour to NZ. 

Jack marks an unusual anniversary. 

Winter warmers on your mind? Margo Flanagan of Two Raw Sisters delivers a delicious Halloumi Saagwala recipe and discusses options for alternative proteins. 

Francesca Rudkin offers her verdict on the much-hyped Sinners film.  

And tech expert Paul Stenhouse explains new EU rules for devices to have a mandatory label. 

Get the Satur...

"Few cities in the world enjoy the stature of being a music mecca quite like Salzburg. It’s one of my favourite European destinations and I recently ventured back to this Austrian jewel with Trafalgar, as part of their magnificent 10-day Imperial Europe tour. It’s like a tasting plate of some of Central Europe’s most glittering destinations, steeped in history and spilling with scenic finery. And it’s all spectacularly brought to life with specialist local guides who live and breathe these destinations, with unbridled passion and pride."

Read Mike's full article here.

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Some would argue our world has got too busy, too frantic, that we never get a chance to switch off. An estimate from a few years ago believes we have as much as 34GB of information coming into us every day. Some of this business is likely due to never being able to switch off from incoming info, as well as a loss of “stopping cues” around us, e.g. ads on linear tv, intermissions at movies. 

We can get into a pattern of always being on, always “doing”, never stopping and just “being”. It’s arguably not good for ou...

I’m trying a different tack on Newstalk ZB.   

It’s something I use with teachers and kids at school: the meaning of scientific names of living organisms helps to remind us how certain creatures operate or how they can be identified.  

Once you get that in your gardening vocabulary it becomes a lot easier to prevent or control the problem that’s causing you regular troubles.  

Taphrina is the name of a parasitic fungi (belonging to the family Taphrinaceae) that produce asci in a superficial hymenium having an indeterminate margin and cause leaf curli...

Dengue fever is in the news right now after the death of a young Samoan boy at Starship Hospital last week. As many New Zealanders travel to the Pacific Islands, the recent outbreak means it’s something to consider. 

The other interesting fact about dengue fever is as well as being relevant to the Pacific, it’s becoming more common around the world due to climate change – increasing temperature and humidity driving mosquito population and leading to more people being infected. 

What is it?  

OpenAI would be open to buying Google's Chrome browser  

Talk about an instant audience - imagine logging into your Chrome web browser and instead of getting Google results, you get ChatGPT. The DOJ ruled last year that Google is a monopolist in Search – now comes the search to decide what to do with Chrome.  

OpenAI told the judge the company would be interested in taking it over. Open AI, with ChatGPT, wants to be the way you find and access information on the web. Attempts to partner with Google Search have been unsuccessful – they only have a...

Mobland  

Power is up for grabs as two warring crime families clash in a battle that threatens to topple empires and ruin lives. In the crossfire stands Harry Da Souza, a street-smart 'fixer' who knows too well where loyalties lie when opposing forces collide (Prime Video). 

Etoile  

In an ambitious gambit to save their storied institutions, two world-renowned ballet companies in New York City and Paris swap their most talented stars. From the Executive Producers of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel comes a bold new series celebrating the beauty, humor, and unpredictability of a...

Margo Flanagan of ‘Two Raw Sisters’ serves up a delicious recipe for Halloumi Saagwala. 

Serves: 2  

Time: 20 minutes  

Ingredients 

Saagwala  

Fried Halloumi  

To Serve  

Method

The Correspondent 

The story of the arrest, trial and imprisonment of Australian journalist Peter Greste, who while reporting on the Arab Spring uprising becomes entangled in a deadly game of rivalries.  

Sinners 

Trying to leave their troubled lives behind, twin brothers return to their Mississippi hometown to start again, only to discover that an even greater evil is waiting to welcome them back. 

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I had a funny entry in my calendar this week that took me a moment to decipher.  

‘Mava 1C anniversary’ it said.   

My heart skipped a beat. Anniversary?! Oh, hang on. No. Stand down.   

Forget romance. What my entry was telling me I’d just reached the anniversary for this very radio show, in which I’d shared with you our decision to become a one car household.  

We made the call at the start of 2023 because Mava had an old dunger that needed to go, and in theory it didn’t seem necessary...

Ciarán Hinds’ acting pursuits have taken him far from his roots in Northern Ireland.  

A quality actor - he lends himself to both villainy and simmering heroics.  

His long career has included intimate Shakespearean theatre productions right through to major franchises like Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, Lord of the Rings and the Disney animated film Frozen.  

His latest project ‘The Narrow Road to the Deep North’ is an intimate character study on human spirit – the Prime Video series based on the novel by Richard Flanagan. 

He told Jack Tame when he was f...

In Beirut’s 7th album, Zach Condon returns to a place he had no plans to ever go back to. 

‘A Study of Losses’ was commissioned by the Swedish circus troupe Kompani Giraff, and at first he was hesitant to write a soundtrack for a circus, the idea a reminder of a time he’d been pigeonholed, as he says, “as a whimsical circus waif”. 

However, videos of the troupe’s performances and an abstract of the work upon which the new project would be based changed his mind. 

Estelle Clifford joined Jack Tame to give her...

Nine Hidden Lives by Robert Gold  

Secrets only survive in the dark 

When journalist Ben Harper is asked to help re-examine an unsolved murder case from thirty years ago, he immediately agrees. It's not just that the victim was also a journalist, murdered after she'd published a series of shocking interviews with victims of domestic abuse. It's also that he understands all too well the need of victim's daughter, Doctor Uma Jha, for answers. 

But it's not long before their investigation leads to threats being made on Uma's life. Ben needs to unravel thi...

Less well known than the days that follow it is Maundy Thursday – the day in which Jesus Christ shared the Last Supper with his 12 apostles. 

A theme of the day is humility, and Kevin Milne had a taste of that and a bit of humiliation both earlier on this week. 

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On the Saturday Morning with Jack Tame Full Show Podcast for Saturday 19 April 2025, Northern Irish acting legend, Hollywood royalty, and the man who has been in almost every major film franchise of the 21st century, Ciaran Hinds joins Jack to discuss the intimate character study of his new project The Narrow Road to the Deep North. 

Jack considers the legacy of the Blue Origin spacecraft against this week's discovery within Earth's very own Big Blue. 

Catherine Raynes reviews the latest novel from David Baldacci – the perfect long weekend read. 

For those sick of hot c...

"You could spill vast rivers of blue Danube ink try to encapsulate the enduring brilliance of Vienna and all that it has lavished on the world. It’s the city that vaulted Mozart, Beethoven, Haydn, Strauss and his waltz into the world’s consciousness. The city that unleashed the genius of Freud, published the world’s first newspaper, conceived the delicious Torte, and was the powerbase for the imperial Hapsburgs. Vienna remains a city of culture, class and beauty; of churches, castles and concert halls."

Read Mike's full article here.

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Food Appreciation Month is coming up, and Kate Hall is thinking about food scraps. 

New Zealand households are throwing away over 157,000 tonnes of edible food every year, costing the average household $1,326.  

Instead of tossing out your food scraps, Kate has a few tips on how you can reuse them, turning them into ingredients and saving money. 

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A week ago I noticed one of those beautiful red toadstools in our garden – the classic red fungus with white dots all over the skin.  

Amanita muscaria or Fly agaric – there are a few different sub-species with different colourations (orange-red to yellow, and various colours of the “dots”). This is a Mycorrhizal fungus that is associated with a few common host trees: Birch, beech and pine trees. It’s not very edible – in fact, it’s better not to muck around with. Some young children have ended up being poisoned and some rather risky adults (trying to go on...

Google and Meta are being raked over the coals in the US 

The two titans are facing antitrust suits for the methods used in their digital advertising networks. Google for running an illegal monopoly within its digital ad network, while Facebook is in front of the FTC for antitrust behaviour in its acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp, as part of its digital ad strategy. 

Steam profits off gaming loot crates 

It was revealed that game publisher and marketplace Steam made US$82 million from loot crate openings in one month, from a sing...

Esk Valley Malbec Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot 2022, Hawkes Bay RRP from $24.99.   

From the Gimblett Gravels sub-regional GI of Hawkes Bay  

The Wine:

Great colour concentration leading to a bouquet of ripe dark red berry fruits, blackberry and roasted plums, a mix of sweet and bitter chocolate, cacao and baking spices. The wood smoke from use of barrel adds complexity and depth. Dry with an abundance of ripe tannins and plenty of acidity for bite and freshness, West drinking from day of purchase through 2030.  

The Food:  

Great with mod...

Patience  

Against the backdrop of the historic city of York, detective Bea Metcalf forms an unlikely duo with young autistic police archivist Patience Evans, opening a door into a whole new world for Patience (ThreeNow).

The Stolen Girl  

A seemingly ordinary decision turns the world of Elisa, mom to two young kids, upside down. When her daughter Lucia asks to go to a sleepover at her new best friend Josie's house, Elisa agrees. After meeting Josie's mother, Rebecca, she's put at ease by her charming nature and their impressive house. But whe...

The Penguin Lessons   

An Englishman experiences personal and political changes after adopting a penguin during a turbulent time in Argentina's history. 

Warfare  

A surveillance mission goes wrong for a platoon of American Navy SEALs in insurgent territory in Iraq. 

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