Reid was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, as was his mother;[1] his father grew up in New Zealand, the son of Scottish immigrants.
[6] In 2003, he won the United Nations Association of Australia's Media Peace Award for his coverage of the volatile political situation in the Solomon Islands.
[4] In November 2012, he hosted a pop culture event titled "Shooting the Beatles and Creating the Sixties" at the Auckland Art Gallery.
[11] He has also written for the New Zealand Listener,[12] The Australian, Metro, Art News, Real Groove, Idealog, Life and Leisure and Weekend magazine.
[3] In AUT University's 2013 study of The New Zealand Herald, on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the newspaper's founding, Reid was named among six "terrific contributors to a masthead which symbolises the Auckland establishment".