John Trenwith: Difference between revisions

John Francis Ernest Trenwith (2 July 1951 - 20 May 1998) MA (Hons) (1973) Auckland, was a New Zealand writer, humorist and academic. He was Principal Lecturer, Advertising, Auckland Institute of Technology. He is particularly noted for his two comic novels, A50 among the Angels and A50 Revs Up.

Early life

Trenwith was born in Auckland. He was educated at Good Shepherd School, Balmoral (primary) and St Peter's College, Grafton (secondary). He studied at the University of Auckland and at the Auckland Teachers College (where he obtained Dip TC, Dip Tchg in 1978).

Academic career

Trenwith worked as a secondary school teacher at Howick College and other schools before joining the marketing Department of the Auckland Institute of Technology. He wrote two textbooks on television and newspapers. At the time of his death, he was enrolled as a Ph. D student at Auckland University and completed his doctoral thesis a week before he died. It was entitled The Politics of Curriculum in Higher Education

Novels

The novels , A50 among the Angels and A50 Revs Up began as stories Trenworth wrote of National Radio in the late 1980's about the mischievous altar boy Ernest Trugood and his expatriate Irish priest "A50" (named after his car a grey Austin A50). The main location is the Good Shepherd church and school in Telford Avenue, Balmoral. Recorded in 1990, the stories were broadcast on the Maggie Barry Show in 1991. Constant requests from listeners made the tapes among the most popular items from Replay Radio and led to the publications of the two books.