What the Mind Can See

Graham Hannah was that rare diamond, a Waikato businessman more at home in a sarong than a suit. He shimmers in this gritty memoir which takes root in Yorkshire, the home of his childhood. He honed his sales skills selling Bon Brushes door to door and further developed them trading currency on the black market in Istanbul as a young traveller. On touch down in Hamilton, New Zealand, Graham went on to create world class events and exhibitions, popular Waikato Home & Garden Show amongst them. The annual International Hot Air Balloon Fiesta he orchestrated was arguably the most visual event ever seen in this country. The entrepreneur's unorthodox approach to just about everything was fuelled in part, by his loathing of bureaucracy and bureaucrats. It was the latter that finally compelled him to relocate his acclaimed Hot Air Balloon Fiesta from Hamilton's lake front to the Wairarapa. A decision he describes as the most painful of his life. The many facts of Graham Hannah are divulged in this unconventional narrative. He was a survivor, he was an artist with a fine appreciation of aesthetics and he understood how to bring out the best in associates. No stranger to late nights, he was the veritable joker, smoker and midnight toker. Lack of sleep never dulled his edge though. He knew how to make the numbers stack up even though he was anything but a bean counter. Unlocking aspiration and imagination - his own and others - was his hobby. He didn't skimp on listening to ideas. He didn't skimp on giving up his time. He was a hard-out dreamer. He encouraged others to dream too but he would never let them stop there. Dreams and imagination were the scaffold upon which he built his remarkable life.