Dad Goes to the Movies featured on Radio NZ

 Our latest book Dad Goes to the Movies (1941) featured on Jesse Mulligan's 1-4pm show on Tues 9 August.

"On 6 December 1941 a NZ serviceman named Les Tweedie, stationed in Alexandria, went to see James Stewart and Margaret Sullavan in The Shop Around the Corner.

How do we know this? Because Les was an avid film fan and wrote a diary and recorded, among many other things, every film he saw. Thanks to his daughter, writer Jaq Tweedie, this diary has just been published as Dad Goes to the Movies (1941), a lovingly transcribed version of his closely written pocket diary from that year. Dan Slevin from RNZ Widescreen takes a look at the new book."

Dan describes the book as ".. Quite delightful, it's modest, much like it's author, and a fascinating window onto a period... he does list every movie he goes to but there's a lot more going on in this book. He's essentially enlisted, and then is shipped overseas, and in a typically laconic or prosaic Kiwi way he describes what he sees and what he's experiencing. And I found it really quite moving in a modest sort of way .. for anyone interested in the period, I think it's a really interesting window on all that..."

Listen to it here.

Dad Goes To The Movies (1941) out Aug 5

We're excited to announce our next book, launch at Time Out Books at 530pm Friday August 5... with author Jaq Tweedie, books on sale.

"When war was declared in 1939 Les Tweedie was at the movies with his sweetheart, Peg. He enlisted, married her, and went off to serve New Zealand as a soldier for the next six years. Throughout his life his love for going to the movies remained constant. In 1941, he noted in his tiny personal soldier’s diary every film he saw, and other things that happened in that very interesting year.

Seventy five years later, writer Jaq Tweedie – his daughter – decodes the diary and reveals Les Tweedie’s secret cinematic life."

Leslie Edward Tweedie graduated from Auckland University College and then studied teaching at Auckland Teachers College, where he met Peg Feaver. He served with the New Zealand Army during World War 2. After his return home he resumed teaching and raised six children including his sons John, Richard, and Grant, and his daughter Jacqueline (known as Jaq.) He died in 1998, aged 83.

Publishing date: August 5, 2016 (This would have been Les Tweedie’s 100th birthday)
Available now from Unity Books Auckland, Time Out Books Mt Eden, and Amazon.com. Or ask at your local bookstore/library.

The book is available in paperback, published independently by Dunbar Noon Publishing, thru the print on demand service, Createspace. More info, press release here.