Ian Sinclair - My Secret Life in Bay of Plenty

TVNZ Journalist Ian Sinclair shares his secret talent for playing flamenco guitar in his secret life. Many may know Ian Sinclair as a roving reporter with the dream TV job: a chance to explore the world and meet everyone from the Queen to the Taliban. Yet few would have guessed he had a lifelong secret addiction to Spanish flamenco guitar. After nearly two thousand television stories he made a giant leap of faith to quit and become a flamenco guitarist.

Ian Sinclair first fell in love with flamenco when he was just 6 years old. After public performances with Dave McCartney Harry Lyon and Phil Ochs he was appointed music writer for Craccum, interviewing the Gypsy Kings, Elton John, Ronnie Wood, Rod Stewart and Joan Baez. In Spain, he has studied under maestros Miguel Garcia Jose Luis Postigo and Juan del Gastor. His arrest in 1975 by General Franco's secret police led him to switch to hard news reporting, moving from newspapers to radio, then TV in 1986, where international assignments included Bougainville, Kosovo Afghanistan and Iraq.