While the 98-year-old Hampden man had believed a book on his life would be "totally boring", after much nagging by friends and family to share his incredible adventures, his story — Bwana, There’s a Body in the Bath! — has finally been published.
Mr Whitehead was born on Christmas Eve, 1923. His family was living in Shanghai at the time, as his father was the managing director of a company importing and installing cotton manufacturing machinery in the developing cotton industry of China.
Nearing the end of his primary school years, he was shipped back to England, with his mother and younger sister Wendy, and he then made his way to Australia by himself at age 14, with his sights set on becoming a stockman.
After working as a farm labourer, he went on to serve in the Australian army and air force in World War 2, before feeling a call to Africa, where he spent many years and had a varied career, working as a colonial officer, parks ranger, big game hunter and rancher, as well as working on the sets of several big-name movies, including Hatari! with John Wayne, and handling lions for Born Free.
He settled in New Zealand in the coastal village of Hampden about six years ago to be closer to his daughter, Anne Harrison, who lives in Moeraki. He lives by himself in a converted three-bay hayshed with living quarters at one end and a comprehensive workshop at the other.
Mr Whitehead wrote Bwana, There’s a Body in the Bath! with the help of Australian author Tony Park. He had read one of Mr Park’s books which was set in Africa — part of the world he knew very well — and wrote to the author to tell him how much he enjoyed it.
In the email, he included a "little synopsis" of his own life, which piqued Mr Park’s interest. He gave Mr Whitehead the encouragement he needed to finally share his life story.
"To be honest with you, I thought it would be totally boring and that’s why I never really made any effort to do anything about it until Tony came along," Mr Whitehead said.
Mr Park flew to New Zealand and spent five days with Mr Whitehead in Hampden, interviewing him about his life and going over what he had already written down himself.
It took about a year to pull it all together, and Mr Whitehead was "very happy" with the final product, which was published by Mr Park’s company, Ingwe Publishing.
Bwana, There’s a Body in the Bath! has been released on Amazon as an e-book, and an audiobook version will be available in about two weeks’ time.
The first print run was small, but Mr Whitehead had been in discussions with PaperPlus Oamaru about stocking it, and had been selling copies of the book himself "like a drunken sailor", including making shipments to Africa, England and the United States.
"I originally only intended it for my family, as a record ... but now that it’s out, the breeze is under my tail to push it as hard as I can," Mr Whitehead said.
"I don’t think it will ever make any money, but it might interest a few people — especially the older generation."
Mr Whitehead had enjoyed the process of writing a book about his life. It had provided a great deal more than just a means of occupying his time — it had taken him back to relive all of the good times he had enjoyed — and "that in itself can’t be a bad thing".
He had plenty more stories to tell, and depending on the success of Bwana, There’s a Body in the Bath!, he might just write a second one.
