Mr Zambia is living right here in Tauranga. So is Mr North-East Britain, Mr Sheffield, Mr Cleethorpes and an also-ran in the Mr Midlands bodybuilding competition. This city is a haven for body sculpture.

Except all those blokes, all those misters, are one and the same chap: Peter Pratt.

Peter, the steel construction worker, family man, terminal global itinerant, short story writer, full-blown author, raconteur and, of course, bodybuilder.

'I just like to keep fit. And look good, of course.”

He's nudging four score years, turns 80 this June, and after working out in gyms from Grimsby to Brighton, from Benoni to Bahrain and from Oman to Middlesbrough, Peter has finally stopped here in the Bay.

'He used to look quite good,” says Pat, his wife of 60 years.

He still does for a man of his years. He has standout calves, even though they are the hardest muscles to develop apparently. They ripple when he walks and look a little incongruous on an older man.

'And he's lost his bulk,” says Pat.

But he can still be spotted three or four times a week at Snap Fitness in Judea, bench pressing 25kg, bicep curling 8kg dumbbells and tuning the cardio on the treadmill.

'I am not as strong as I used to be.”

But a personal trainer at Snap, Brent Henry, says he would be much stronger than anyone else his age.

'He doesn't go crazy, but he's not weak.”

And if he has the physique of an aged Adonis, Peter has a mind like a steel trap. He rattles off 79 years of dates, people, places and experiences without inhaling or exhaling.

And that's why the gym is suffering, his golf is suffering. He has been exercising the mind as well. He was writing a book.

‘The Road from Grimsby: A Memoir' is the very unpretentious title. Grimsby being the fishing port on the Humber estuary, Peter's birthplace.

It's the story of an ordinary boy and extraordinary global adventures. Thirty-six chapters, 368 pages, tracking the first 40 years of one of life's fascinating characters.

It's a test run – just 50 copies printed.

'It's also a step up from short stories where I wrote about me as a boy – you know, school, getting caned, stealing and fishing.”

Did this bodybuilder ever do anabolic steroids? 'God no, none of that.” Peter is genuinely offended at the suggestion.

'I decided I wasn't going down that path. All I wanted was to be a natural body builder.”

Going natural meant a breakfast of Complan (a powdered energy drink), milk, two raw eggs and molasses, 10 hours work and then three hours in the gym, four times a week. Pat would cycle to the gym to meet him at 9pm.

'I was a bodybuilding widow.” But it was also love.

Was this body builder vain? Did he admire himself?

'I suppose all bodybuilders are vain. I spent many hours posing in front of a mirror checking the pecs” – the pectoralis major muscle.

'You need a good routine to show your physique at its best. And if you can't pose there's no point competing, no point being on stage.”

He tells whenever he walked down the high street shopping, he would catch sight of his reflection in the shop windows. He liked what he saw most of the time. Yes, he was vain.

'I was never happy though. I always wanted to improve.”

And that's why Peter uplifted his new bride from her hometown of Cleethorpes and went to Brighton, where Peter's coach lived and ran a gym.

'He also trained a couple of guys who were Mr Britain winners and Mr Universe contenders.” One could squat 270kg. That inspired Peter and nine months later (and 6kg lighter) he won the Mr Lincolnshire title.

Peter may have been buffed, but he was unsettled.

He and Pat would live in South Africa, Zambia, England again, Bahrain, Dubai, Abhu Dabi, Oman and Saudi Arabia. And eventually Tauranga where he and Pat would settle with their daughter.

The book is a fascinating chronology of those adventures: the highs, the disappointments, the challenges and rewards.

Peter relishes one story: the time he was declared a prohibited immigrant in Zambia and given 48 hours to leave. He had been confused with another Peter Pratt, another Englishman, who had made some injudicious comments about the president.

There's also the reason he got into bodybuilding and it had nothing to do with vanity. He got peritonitis as a kid and was hospitalised for 10 weeks. 'I almost died.” He got over it, but decided to do weigh training to rebuild the 20kg he had lost.

This week Peter was back at the gym giving advice at Snap Fitness.

'A good lad and a nice physique.” He wanted to know about posing.

Peter was able to tell him posing is 'like being a ballerina. Natural and graceful.” You can't tense up and grimace like you want to frighten someone.

'No, you need to smile, make it look like it's easy and you are enjoying yourself.”

Apparently the good lad took Peter's advice and was 'doing it good”.

Peter emigrated to New Zealand aged 76. It's hard to believe the adventure would all end here.