Born in North Canterbury in 1932, Derek Quigley
gained a scholarship for young farmers from the Meat and Wool Boards to
study farming in Britain and the United States, before completing a law
degree while farming and practising as a lawyer in Christchurch. He
entered Parliament as National MP for Rangiora in 1975, and was a
Cabinet minister in the Muldoon National government, an advisor to the
Lange/Douglas Labour government, and founder with Roger Douglas of the
ACT Party. After a further term in Parliament in 1996-99, he has worked
as a consultant, and as a visiting fellow at ANU's Strategic &
Defence Studies Centre, and now lives in Madrid.