1. Michael Bassett is a noted New Zealand historian, and has published a number of books on New Zealand politics, including biographies of Prime Ministers Peter Fraser, Gordon Coates and Joseph Ward.
22 Facts About Michael Bassett
1. 2.
Michael Bassett completed BA and MA degrees in history at the University of Auckland before winning a fellowship to Duke University in the United States in 1961.
3.
In 1964, Michael Bassett returned to New Zealand and became a senior lecturer in history at the University of Auckland.
4.
Michael Bassett stood unsuccessfully for the Labour Party in the 1966 election for North Shore and in the 1969 election for Waitemata.
5.
In 1971 Michael Bassett was elected to the Auckland City Council.
6.
Michael Bassett was elected to the Te Atatu electorate in the 1978 election, holding the seat until 1990.
7.
Michael Bassett was vocally critical of party president Jim Anderton and declared he would challenge him for the presidency of the party.
8.
An open conflict drew the ire of others in the party and eventually Michael Bassett withdrew his candidacy.
9.
Michael Bassett was still subsequently dumped from the shadow cabinet in February 1982.
10.
Michael Bassett served as chairman of the New Zealand Lottery Grants Board and of the 1990 Commission, tasked with the commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi.
11.
Michael Bassett did not contest the 1990 election, and retired from active politics.
12.
Michael Bassett continued occasionally to be involved at an advisory level, for example unofficially advising Don Brash during Brash's term as National Party leader.
13.
Michael Bassett resumed his academic career, publishing several books on New Zealand political history, and contributing to the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography and the British Dictionary of National Biography.
14.
Michael Bassett worked for two years with New Zealand's Expo team in the run up to the Seville Expo '92.
15.
Michael Bassett was a professor of history at the University of Western Ontario on and off from 1992 to 1996, taught at the University of Auckland Medical School from 1997 to 2000, and was a Fulbright Professor of New Zealand Studies at Georgetown University, Washington, DC.
16.
From 1994 to 2004 Michael Bassett was a member of the Waitangi Tribunal, which investigates breaches of the Treaty of Waitangi.
17.
Michael Bassett was a columnist for The Dominion Post in Wellington and The Press in Christchurch.
18.
In 1964, Michael Bassett married Judith Petrie, who went on to become a historian at the University of Auckland and a member of the Auckland Regional Council.
19.
Michael Bassett had been a member of the Auckland Hospital Board.
20.
Michael Bassett is a third cousin of late Prime Minister David Lange.
21.
Michael Bassett had suggested that Lange should stand on the Labour ticket for the Auckland City Council in 1974.
22.
Michael Bassett was made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services as an historian, in the 2018 New Year Honours.