1. Don McKinnon was the secretary-general of the Commonwealth of Nations from 2000 until 2008.
21 Facts About Don McKinnon
1. 2.
Don McKinnon's father was Major-General Walter McKinnon, CB CBE, a New Zealand Chief of the General Staff, and once Chairman of New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation.
3.
The Don McKinnon brothers are great-great-grandsons of John Plimmer, known as the "father of Wellington".
4.
Don McKinnon was educated at Khandallah School and then Nelson College from 1952 to 1953.
5.
In 1956, he graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School, in Washington, DC Don McKinnon later spent a "lengthy period" in the Bighorn Mountains in Wyoming.
6.
Don McKinnon undertook study at Lincoln Agricultural College, New Zealand.
7.
When Prime Minister Robert Muldoon called the snap election of 1984, and was defeated by David Lange's New Zealand Labour Party, Don McKinnon remained senior Whip for his party in Opposition.
8.
Don McKinnon was appointed Shadow Minister of Defence and Shadow Minister of Health by leader Jim Bolger.
9.
When National, then led by Jim Bolger, won the 1990 election, Don McKinnon became Deputy Prime Minister.
10.
Don McKinnon became Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade and Minister of Pacific Island Affairs.
11.
Don McKinnon received recognition as a result of the Bougainville negotiations.
12.
Don McKinnon kept his role as Minister of Foreign Affairs and became Minister of Disarmament and Arms Control.
13.
Don McKinnon retired from parliament shortly after the 1999 election, being replaced by Arthur Anae.
14.
At the opening of the 2003 CHOGM, in Nigeria on 5 December, Don McKinnon was challenged for the position of Secretary-General by Lakshman Kadirgamar, a former Foreign Minister of Sri Lanka.
15.
Don McKinnon received an Honorary Doctorate from Heriot-Watt University in 2005.
16.
In 2007 Don McKinnon attempted to mediate between Fiji and the Australian and New Zealand governments in their continuing dispute over the appropriate timetable and rules for the holding of Fijian election in 2008.
17.
In 2009, Don McKinnon was appointed a Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order for services to the Commonwealth.
18.
Don McKinnon is a vice-president of the Royal Commonwealth Society.
19.
Don McKinnon Drive is named after McKinnon, in his former electorate of Albany.
20.
Don McKinnon is chairman of the Global Panel Foundation Australasia, a non-governmental organisation that works in crisis areas around the world.
21.
Don McKinnon is married to his second wife, former journalist Clare de Lore, and together they have a son.