Rawdon Christie is a former English-New Zealand journalist turned media relations expert and real-estate sales person.[1]
Christie was born in London. He attendedMarlborough College, and then theUniversity of Edinburgh, where he received a Bachelor of Music degree.
After a spell as a teacher of performing arts and sports coach atKing's School in New Zealand, Christie attended theLondon College of Printing to undertake a postgraduate course in broadcast journalism. While there he won the 'Young Broadcast Journalist of the Year' award in 2000 (Broadcast Journalism Training Council). He started his journalism career with the BBC in Cambridge, firstly withBBC Radio Cambridgeshire, then withBBC Look East.[1]
In 2003 Christie took up a position as a reporter withTelevision New Zealand'sONE News. In 2005 he moved to TVNZ's daily current affairs programme,Close Up. He has had stints as presenter ofMidday,Tonight,Sunday, the New Zealand version ofDragons' Den andAgenda. In July 2007 Rawdon returned toONE News and later became TVNZ's first producer / presenter when he took overONE News at 4:30 in 2009. Christie often presented One News at 6 over the Christmas period, and from 2011 to 2012 presented the news bulletins onBreakfast two days a week.[2]
In September 2011 Christie became co-host (withToni Street) ofTelevision New Zealand's newSaturday Breakfast show. In May 2012, Christie was promoted as weekday co-host ofBreakfast, replacing Corin Dann; he held this job until 2016, when he was dismissed from TVNZ due to major changes being made to the breakfast programme.[3]
Christie has since left the television industry to run his own media communications company. In 2020, he obtained his real estate licence to become a real estate salesperson for his localBarfoot & Thompson.
Christie lives in Auckland with his wife and three children.
His cousin is the movie starJulie Christie.[4]