Story

  On a visit to his grandfather, John learnt how to use a wood lathe. He scrounged old bits of native timber from demolished houses and fitted them onto the lathe. When it was spinning fast he used a sharp chisel to carve them into beautiful big candlestick holders. 

Show Image 6  He wanted to sell them, but couldn’t find large enough candles, so decided to make his own. Visiting a busy restaurant, John asked if they would save their burnt down candle stumps for him. Every couple of weeks he’d collect them, melt them in a pot on the stove and pour them into a mould with a wick in the middle. The attractive candlesticks sold quickly.

   The Britten family loved skiing, and Mr Britten had bought them plastic ski boots in America.

Show Image 7   Back then you couldn’t buy them in New Zealand. John grew out of his and decided to make a new pair from fiberglass. He was working in the kitchen and some fiberglass dropped onto the cork floor tiles. It set solid. John tried to scrape it off with a knife, then he tried a chisel, but it wouldn’t budge. With a sinking feeling in his stomach, he heard his mother’s footsteps approaching. She glanced from his guilty face to the mess on the floor. 

  “Sorry, Mum,” he said. 

  “John! When are you ever going to learn!” she scolded, and banished him again to the garage.

  Once, when his family were in the mountains skiing, John found an ancient broken-down truck behind a ski lodge. The owners were glad to get rid of it and John arranged for it to be towed back to their home. 

  Next door lived a boy called Richmond, who was three years older than John. 

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His bedroom overlooked John’s garage and he shook his head in disbelief as the rusty old truck was towed in. He’d often seen trailer-loads of junk coming in for John’s different projects, but this one looked a real wreck. ‘Why would you want to keep a useless heap like that?’ he scoffed.

  The next few months were a busy and happy time for John, as he took the truck’s body apart and restored it piece by piece. His friends would drop in for lunch, and John would cook them up a baked beans feast before they all began sanding off rust. 

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John welded in new metal to cover the holes, sanded it smooth and painted it. When it was time to paint the truck’s bottom, a group of his friends biked over and they carefully tipped it upside-down. John painted the wheel-spokes black and the truck's body bright yellow. 

  Richmond glanced out of his bedroom window. A group of friends and family had gathered around the garage next door. John had been banging away every night for weeks on some project. Was he finally finished? 

  An engine roared into life and everyone moved back from the door. Richmond stood at the window to get a better view. Suddenly he whistled in amazement. Out of the garage drove a shining yellow vintage truck, with that skinny fifteen-year old grinning proudly in the driver’s seat. ‘There’s more to John Britten than meets the eye!’ thought Richmond, impressed.

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  When he drove it to school the next day, John’s teachers thought the same. “Maybe there’s hope for the lad yet,” his English teacher murmured.

  John learnt how to work with leather and made himself boots and belts. He carved a beautiful stone lantern to decorate the family’s rock garden. Next he made a reclining chair from metal and leather. As he got older, John learnt how to make stained glass windows. To earn some money, he designed and made lovely lamps with colourful glass shades. He found another rusty old truck and rebuilt it into an elegant vintage house-truck. You can see it in the Queenstown Museum.  Show Image 11  

As a young man, John bought a large old brick stable. He worked hard for twelve years and turned it into a magnificent mansion with marble floors and stone columns. 

He dug an indoor swimming pool with a garden spade. It had a little fountain, and was surrounded by palm trees. Next to it was a grand sweeping staircase leading to the top floor. 

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He made most of his stylish home from junk, collected from demolished buildings. He made his own bathroom taps shaped like swans.

  Even as an adult, John dreamed of speed. In his garage, he and a team of friends designed and built a radically different motorbike.

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It looked spectacular, won international races, and broke four world records.

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It became world famous. You can see it on display at Te Papa Museum in Wellington.

  When John was still at school, the principal had told him, “You’ll never amount to anything.” But John didn’t give up. He learned as much as he could, persevered and made many wonderful things. And so could you.