Mandy Mayhem-Bullock is straight to the point.
“I’m dropping the ‘Bullock’, I’m just going to be Cr Mayhem,” the 49-year-old newly elected Dunedin councillor said.
The ‘Mayhem’ was a stage name from her five years in the circus. But we will get to that later
Born and bred in Dunedin to a 19-year-old mum, the young Mayhem says she avoided being adopted due to her grandmother uplifting the pair from hospital.
She later attended two Dunedin high schools. Well, officially she went to Otago Girls’ High School, but unofficially she pretended to be a foreign exchange student at Logan Park High School, until people tried to speak French or German to her.
Mayhem said that she was in the top class at Otago Girls, alongside the city’s future lawyers, doctors and accountants, but “I was a misfit”.
“I wore Doc Martens and old ripped petticoats and pyjama pants on mufti days.”
She trained to be a teacher, but instead stopped studying to focus on taekwondo, the Korean martial art, and has a third dan black belt.
Mayhem was aiming to represent New Zealand at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, where Taekwondo was a demonstration sport, but opted out due to the significant costs involved.
So what does a circus background – again, more of that later – and holding a black belt mean for the newly elected Dunedin councillor?
“It means I take no prisoners.”
Mayhem later moved to Wellington, flatting with members of the band Head Like a Hole, while performing as ‘Slaphappy the Clown’ for children, and working as a driver, escorting the likes of singer Peter Andre.
If you don’t know Head Like a Hole, check out this classic.
It was there where she met a clown/acrobat/juggler/unicyclist called Titch, who was also a drummer and roadie.
But their future plans ended after he tragically died in a truck crash on the Desert Road.
The pair had planned to start their own circus, along the likes of the Jim Rose Circus – ‘godfather of the modern freak show’ – and after a period of mourning got a call late at night.
“Mandy, the circus is in town and they are looking for a clown,” a friend told her.
With the circus receiving just two applicants, a Christian mime and Mayhem, needless to say she got the job.
She noted that many of those in the circus had troubled pasts: “we had all lost our dreams and went on the road”, but enjoyed the mystique of the circus.
And as soon as she joined, the current clown left to be a fireman along with his girlfriend – the ringmaster.
That left her to become the ringmaster – which included waving a wand and pressing play on a tape cassette for the musical cues – while playing the ‘straight guy’ with the clowns.
Mayhem would hold up a newspaper and the whipcracker would whip it to shreds, even whipping a cigarette from her mouth.
“Quite often I’d get smacked on the bridge of my nose . . . it stings and makes your eyes water.”
Her role included standing in front of the knifeboard as the man threw knives, two at a time, in her direction.
“One time a knife richoted out of the board, and went straight down and stuck into my shoe, I pulled the knife out and then squelched around with my blood filling-up my shoe.”
The job also involved Mayhem becoming a business partner, driver, agent, education officer and buddy to ‘Sonny the Chimpanzee’.
The circus used to breed animals, such as lions and chimpanzees, but regulations changed, meaning many of the animals were older.
The circus attracted regular protests from animal rights’ groups, but the solutions were difficult as they could not be reintegrated into the wild, nor given to a zoo.
Mayhem said her life in the circus helped shape her politics, “I saw a lot of New Zealand”.
Not all of it good. Small towns impacted by extreme poverty were a lasting memory.
But after five years she left the circus – including being whipped in the face on her last day – and returned south, first to Oamaru and then to Waitati, north of Dunedin
She was also a mother-of-five, or as she puts it: “three from my womb . . . and two I gave away”.
She had a 19-year-old daughter and when her son, who is now 17, was born, she weaned him so she could be an egg donor and undergo fertility treatment in Australia for her lesbian friend and a gay sperm donor.
“That was pretty unheard of.”
With those two children, who live in Wellington and are aged 14 and 13 respectively, she maintained an open relationship with them.
In Waitati, known for its alternative community, she immersed herself, becoming involved in the likes of the Waitati Militia, which was established in opposition to the Vietnam War 50 years ago.
She later married Lee Bullock, from the island of Guernsey, and the couple have a six-year-old daughter together.
Apart from becoming a councillor, Mayhem is arguably better known as the owner of the miniature horse Star, who was stabbed to death.
But she also served for six years on the Waikouaiti Coast Community Board, and stood for the city council in the last election.
Her latest campaign was successful, partly due to a $5000 loan from her mum to get hoardings and advertising on the back of a bus.
Mayhem said her campaign focused on ‘wellbeing’ and resonated with people.
“We are in unprecedented times, people are under the pump and they are feeling the pressure financially.”
Another issue dear to her heart involved arts and culture, particularly the music scene, and she wanted Dunedin to embrace the sector.
Mayhem said she got on well with mayor-elect Radich, and was looking forward to working with him.
And despite one councillor on the campaign trail advising her to “lose the top hat”, she did not hold grudges and could work with anyone.
Apart from her new role as a councillor, she had her fiftieth birthday to look forward to next month.
That would include a freak show and a guest appearance from someone called, “Charlotte, the three-tittied woman”.
Mandy Mayhem, quite possibly the country’s most interesting councillor.
You may remember last week’s story with Victor Billot and his gas bottles?
Turns people from all over the country were also caught out.
The worst one was in Dunedin. That involved a as company inspecting a person’s home during last week’s snowdump . . .
ICYMI: I’m still laughing at this, and wondering how they did it.
Someone suggested it was potentially the resurfacing of the one-way system, or maybe the George St makeover.
Speaking of George St, what are your thoughts on the development?
I think it looks great.
And lastly, this is my Tweet of the Week:
Have a great week.
Really fascinating life
My tweet of the week was this one.
https://twitter.com/adwalks87/status/1578866936364294144