Neil Cornelius Adrian Collins (5 March 1941 – 19 November 2018) was a New Zealand local-body politician and broadcaster.

Broadcasting

Collins was a radio host in the southern city of

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...

for over 50 years,"Neil Collins"
Governor-General's investitures page.

Brush with celebrity questioned

Collins claimed in a newspaper article in 2011 to have met actor

Loretta Swit Loretta Jane Swit (born Loretta Szwed; November 4, 1937) is an American stage and television actress known for her character roles. Swit is best known for her portrayal of Major Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan on ''M*A*S*H'', for which she won two E ...

, the Beatles, and

Bill Cosby William Henry Cosby Jr. ( ; born July 12, 1937) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, and media personality. He made significant contributions to American and African-American culture, and is well known in the United States for his eccentri ...

, and provided a photo depicting himself posing alongside Cash. The student magazine '' Critic-Te Arohi'' pointed out that Cash's likeness in the photo "bears more than a passing resemblance to the album cover of '' The Best of Johnny Cash, Volume 2''," concluding that the photo "...was so fantastic that Cash decided to use it for the album cover..."

Local-body politics

Collins was a city councillor in Dunedin from 1989 until his retirement in 2013."Neil Collins"
Dunedin City Council. In the

1990 Queen's Birthday Honours The Birthday Honours 1990 for the Commonwealth realms were announced on 15 June 1990, to celebrate the Queen's Birthday of 1990. The recipients of honours are displayed here as they were styled before their new honour, and arranged firstly by the ...

, Collins was awarded the

Queens Service Medal The Queen's Service Order, established by royal warrant of Queen Elizabeth II on 13 March 1975, is used to recognise "valuable voluntary service to the community or meritorious and faithful services to the Crown or similar services within the p ...

for community service. He was appointed an

Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit The New Zealand Order of Merit is an order of merit in the New Zealand royal honours system. It was established by royal warrant (document), royal warrant on 30 May 1996 by Elizabeth II, Monarchy of New Zealand, Queen of New Zealand, "for those ...

, for services to broadcasting, local-body affairs and the community, in the 2009 New Years Honours. Collins died in Dunedin on 19 November 2018 after an illness.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Collins, Neil 1941 births 2018 deaths New Zealand broadcasters Dunedin City Councillors Recipients of the Queen's Service Medal Officers of the New Zealand Order of Merit

Broadcasting

Brush with celebrity questioned

Local-body politics

See also

References