Larry Williams Drive

Newstalk ZB senior political correspondent Barry Soper has been admitted to hospital and is to have open-heart surgery to remove a blockage. “I’d been feeling a bit out of breath walking up hills over the past few weeks and decided to go to my doctor for a check-up,” Soper said today. “They ran some tests and it turns out I have a blockage near my heart, which needs to be removed through surgery this coming Friday. They’re keeping me in hospital as a precaution before I have the op.” Soper said the diagnosis had come as a “bit of a shock”. Soper is married to Newstalk ZB Drive host Heather du Plessis-Allan; the couple have a toddler son, Iggy. Du Plessis-Allan told her listeners today that they had caught the issue with “a matter of weeks to spare”. “We’re through the worst of it in terms of the shock and stuff like that, cried all the tears, we need to cry,” she said. Soper said: “I feel completely fine day to day, but I’m glad I got it checked out”.  “I’m hoping for a quick recovery following surgery so I