Grahame Stuart Thorne (born 25 February 1946) is a former

All Black The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks ( mi, Ōpango), represents New Zealand in men's international rugby union, which is considered the country's national sport. The team won the Rugby World Cup in 1987, ...

rugby player,

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

commentator, Member of Parliament and

municipal A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

councillor and TV cooking show host. He was born in

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

, New Zealand.

Rugby union

A centre, wing, and second five-eighth, Thorne represented

at a provincial level, and was a member of the New Zealand national side, the

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks ( mi, Ōpango), represents New Zealand in men's international rugby union, which is considered the country's national sport. The team won the Rugby World Cup in 1987 ...

, from 1967 to 1970. He played 39 matches for the All Blacks including 10 internationals. In the early 1970s he lived in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

and played for Northern Transvaal and . In 2014, he featured on a list of the top 100 All Blacks.Top 100 All Blacks: Grahame Thorne
on ''

The New Zealand Herald ''The New Zealand Herald'' is a daily newspaper published in Auckland, New Zealand, owned by New Zealand Media and Entertainment, and considered a newspaper of record for New Zealand. It has the largest newspaper circulation of all newspapers ...

'' website, dated 2014-04-23, viewed 2014-12-01 While in Auckland, Thorne initially played for the Auckland University Rugby Club and later for the Pakuranga United Club. Grahame's sons Bruce and David also played rugby union; Bruce played in South Africa for

Transvaal Transvaal is a historical geographic term associated with land north of (''i.e.'', beyond) the Vaal River in South Africa. A number of states and administrative divisions have carried the name Transvaal. * South African Republic (1856–1902; af, ...

and the Junior Springboks, and David played club rugby in

Nelson, New Zealand (Let him, who has earned it, bear the palm) , image_map = Nelson CC.PNG , mapsize = 200px , map_caption = , coordinates = , coor_pinpoint = , coordinates_footnotes = ...

Sports broadcasting career

After his playing career, Thorne worked as a

sports commentator In sports broadcasting, a sports commentator (also known as sports announcer or sportscaster) provides a real-time commentary of a game or event, usually during a live broadcast, traditionally delivered in the historical present tense. Radio was ...

for Television New Zealand, often appearing alongside Keith Quinn.

Member of Parliament

Thorne was the National Party Member of Parliament for Onehunga in the 43rd parliament from the 1990 election to 1993. The seat had been held by

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

since the 1938 election.

Local government

After his parliamentary career Thorne held

local government Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-loca ...

roles as an elected councillor of Onehunga Borough Council, Auckland City Council,

Auckland Regional Council The Auckland Regional Council (ARC) was the regional council (one of the former local government authorities) of the Auckland Region. Its predecessor the Auckland Regional Authority (ARA) was formed in 1963 and became the ARC in 1989. The AR ...

, Nelson City Council (2004); was an unsuccessful candidate for Christchurch City Council in 2007 then was an unsuccessful candidate for

Queenstown Lakes District Council Queenstown-Lakes District, a local government district, is in the Otago Region of New Zealand that was formed in 1986. It is surrounded by the districts of Central Otago, Southland, Westland and Waitaki. Much of the area is often referred to as ...

in 2010.Local government career described in

Letter to the editor A letter to the editor (LTE) is a Letter (message), letter sent to a publication about an issue of concern to the reader. Usually, such letters are intended for publication. In many publications, letters to the editor may be sent either through ...

to ''

Otago Daily Times The ''Otago Daily Times'' (ODT) is a newspaper published by Allied Press Ltd in Dunedin, New Zealand. The ''ODT'' is one of the country's four main daily newspapers, serving the southern South Island with a circulation of around 26,000 and a c ...

'', September 2010. Thorne described his unsuccessful Christchurch candidacy as due to "not thinking clearly at the time" but that he had generally "given isbest when elected to public office."

Cooking shows

Thorne has had two cooking shows on New Zealand TV; ''Thorney's Cooking Canterbury'' and ''Thorney's Cooking Central'', both produced by his son Gareth.

Personal life

Thorne was adopted at birth in an

adoption Adoption is a process whereby a person assumes the parenting of another, usually a child, from that person's biological or legal parent or parents. Legal adoptions permanently transfer all rights and responsibilities, along with filiation, from ...

privately arranged by his grandfather. He described learning of his adoption at age 21 as "a devastating experience."Legat, Nicola. "Good Old Boys," ''Metro'', September 1993, p. 70-78, 80 He has married twice, with one son born to his first (South African) wife and four children to his second (New Zealand) wife. Thorne's family life was beset by tragedy. His son David had a spinal injury and

stroke A stroke is a medical condition in which poor blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and hemorrhagic, due to bleeding. Both cause parts of the brain to stop functionin ...

following a hard

rugby tackle Most forms of football have a move known as a tackle. The primary purposes of tackling are to dispossess an opponent of the ball, to stop the player from gaining ground towards goal or to stop them from carrying out what they intend. The word i ...

in a club rugby game in Nelson in 2006, and underwent long recuperation at

Burwood Hospital The Canterbury District Health Board (Canterbury DHB or CDHB) was a district health board with the focus on providing healthcare to the Canterbury region of New Zealand, north of the Rangitata River. It was responsible for roughly 579,000 reside ...

. The care of his son distracted Thorne from his local government duties and he was criticised for refusing to resign.Thorne in his stride
on

Stuff.co.nz Stuff is a New Zealand news media website owned by newspaper conglomerate Stuff (company), Stuff Ltd (formerly called Fairfax). It is the most popular news website in New Zealand, with a monthly unique audience of more than 2 million. Stuff w ...

website, dated 2009-08-23, viewed 2014-12-01 Son Bruce died when his four wheel drive vehicle overturned near Bloemfontein in

in December 2009. Thorne struggled with

grief Grief is the response to loss, particularly to the loss of someone or some living thing that has died, to which a bond or affection was formed. Although conventionally focused on the emotional response to loss, grief also has physical, cogni ...

and

alcohol Alcohol most commonly refers to: * Alcohol (chemistry), an organic compound in which a hydroxyl group is bound to a carbon atom * Alcohol (drug), an intoxicant found in alcoholic drinks Alcohol may also refer to: Chemicals * Ethanol, one of sev ...

consumption following the accident.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thorne, Grahame 1946 births Living people Rugby union players from Auckland People educated at Auckland Grammar School New Zealand rugby union players New Zealand international rugby union players Auckland rugby union players Rugby union centres Sharks (Currie Cup) players Blue Bulls players New Zealand National Party MPs New Zealand MPs for Auckland electorates New Zealand sportsperson-politicians Members of the New Zealand House of Representatives Unsuccessful candidates in the 1993 New Zealand general election Auckland City Councillors Auckland regional councillors