As a kid in the English city of Bristol, Paul Henry loved The Beverly Hillbillies and became obsessed with America. Now the outspoken broadcaster has a part-time home in the Californian resort town of Palm Springs.
In his latest book I'm In A United State, Henry writes about his passion for the country he describes as simultaneously magical, moronic and misguided.
Paul Henry Photo: Supplied
Spending time in the States – where Henry can peer at Liberace's former residence on his ten-minute walk home from the iconic diner chain Denny's – complements time spent in New Zealand, he says.
"There's a security here that I don't know I could ever get in the United States, but there's a community in the United States that has eluded me in New Zealand. And I think that says more about me than it does about America."
Failures are cumulative and successes are singular, Henry writes in I'm In A United State.
"I've lived and worked long enough in New Zealand to have accumulated many, many failures … and successes. When I'm in America, I'm no-one, it doesn't care about me, I'm not even a number … and I love that. So I've gone over there and formed these really close friendships that the people who live around me.
"The lovely thing is I can just sit back and watch and listen … it's hugely liberating."
And what of America's current state of distress and division?
It isn't down to Donald Trump, Henry says, but the 45th president has taken advantage of problems in the country and "thrown matches on the gasoline".
"The saddest thing is the Democrats – and the system in general, to be fair – missed the opportunity to learn anything from the people that voted Trump in [in 2016] … They focused manically on impeaching [and] stonewalling Donald Trump so he was unable to be a successful president, or more successful than it has been. They wasted the opportunity to reorganise politics so it was more inclusive for those people."
