14 Facts About Barry Crump

John Barrie Crump was a New Zealand author of semi-autobiographical comic novels based on his image as a rugged outdoors man.

Barry Crump's parents were share-milkers who worked in the Taupaki area, and his father was regularly violent towards his wife and children.

Barry Crump worked for many years as a government deer-culler in areas of New Zealand native forest.

Barry Crump wrote his first novel, A Good Keen Man, in 1960, based on his experiences as a government hunter.

In 1969, five children drowned after driving a [Land rover]car into Lake Matahina at a camp that Barry Crump helped to run.

Barry Crump was charged with manslaughter over the deaths, but these charges were dropped.

Fleur Adcock, one of Barry Crump's ex-wives, said that it was negligence on his behalf that the children died,.

In 1988 Barry Crump nearly died from accidentally inhaling cyanide when trapping possums.

Barry Crump was well known for appearing in a series of acclaimed New Zealand television advertisements for Toyota's four-wheel drive Hilux utes, which relied on his image as a stalwart "bushman".

Barry Crump played an archetypal Kiwi bloke in the 1964 New Zealand film Runaway.

Barry Crump was awarded the New Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal in 1990, and was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire in the 1994 New Year Honours, for services to literature and the community.

Barry Crump was featured on a New Zealand $1.00 postage stamp in 1995 as part of the "Famous New Zealanders" issue.

One of his sons, Martin Barry Crump, is a well-known radio broadcaster.

Barry Crump had not previously mentioned any claim of part-authorship while Crump was alive and has not claimed to have actually written any part of the novel itself.