Mike Beveridge was captain of his school’s First Fifteen and went on to a long rugby career which included several representative honours. He received a Master of Arts with First Class Honours from the University of Canterbury. In 1975, with a friend, he started The Everyman Book and Record Shop in Nelson, which traded successfully for almost forty years. He has lived in Palmerston North, Featherston, Napier, Hastings, Upper Hutt, Wellington, Wanganui, Auckland, Nelson, Christchurch, and Whangamatā, where he currently lives.