Word: cave
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John Key can thank many things for his rise to New Zealand's top job - not least the receptionist skills of his sister. Liz Cave was the face of a large Christchurch clothing company in late 1998 when the then president of the governing National Party, John Slater, came visiting on business. Knowing him a little, she summoned the courage to say, "Would you mind if I asked you a personal question?" Not at all, replied Slater. "I have a brother who lives overseas," Cave told him. "He's planning to come back and he may be interested in going...
...Political power brokers hear such questions a lot, of course, and most finetune a response that's polite yet noncommittal. In this case, however, Slater was inclined to do more. Cave seemed to know everybody and could instantly recognize voices on the other end of the phone. "She was a receptionist par excellence," says Slater. "I thought, She's a pretty smart cookie, so I assumed her brother would be out of the same mold." John should talk directly to him, he told Cave, and he gave her his card...
...Ruth eschewed boyfriends from her husband's death until her own in 2000. There were no male role models in her children's family life. "Mum was the only person who had any influence on John whatsoever," says Cave. Their mother ran a tight ship and hated being lied to. If she ever suspected dishonesty, she would chase the culprit through the house wielding a slipper...
...While Key may have started out on Struggle Street, he quickly showed a knack for finding avenues to greener pastures. One afternoon during his mid-teens, he announced to his family that he was taking up golf. "No one we knew played the game," says Cave, "certainly no one in our neighborhood. But he said businessmen played golf and he needed to learn it now so he would be ready...
...mankind emerged from Paleolithic prehistory into a world of alphabets and cities is still a story riddled with questions. Even the first settled agriculturalist communities from which our records begin seem far removed from the cave-dwelling, fur-clad hunter-gatherers whom we imagine to be mankind's ancestors. The discovery of a shaman this ancient offers a startling glimpse into this little-known past, a portrait of prehistoric ritual belief and of clear lines of social hierarchy taking shape...