Deja vu? Then, U.S. interference favoured Pearson’s Liberals. Today, China’s interference favours Trudeau’s Liberals Held on April 8, 1963, Canada’s 26th federal election was notable for two things. It ended John Diefenbaker’s nearly six years as prime minister, thus bringing the Liberals back to office for another extended run. And in a foretaste of current…
Time had a uniquely American vibe – tonally authoritative, irreverent, unawed by authority, and fond of winners Time magazine – 100 years old on Mar. 3 – was the creation of Henry Luce and Briton Hadden, two young men who’d gone to Yale together. But as Hadden died in 1929, it was Luce who guided…
Picking favourites from Caine’s extensive film catalogue is a challenging proposition The English actor Michael Caine turned 90 on March 14. And he’s still working! He plays the lead role in The Great Escaper, a story about a Second World War veteran who escapes from a care home to participate in the 70th-anniversary commemoration of D-Day.…
The new biography by Evan Thomas gives us Nixon in the round, talented and tortured, ambitious and insecure
A 2015 biography by Evan Thomas gives us Nixon in the round, talented and tortured, ambitious and insecure In Being Nixon – a 2015 biography by Evan Thomas – erstwhile speechwriter William Safire is quoted as joking that “The boss has fallen in love again,” the reference being to Richard Nixon’s political infatuation with former…
Boudica’s moment of fame came as the leader of a revolt against the Romans in the years 60-61 Most legendary national heroes tend to be men, or at least that was the case in the world I grew up in. But there are exceptions, one of which is the 1st-century Englishwoman Boudica. Boudica was queen…
His nobility of purpose came across as preachy self-righteousness Jimmy Carter – who recently entered home hospice care at the age of 98 – was an unlikely occupant of the White House. You might even call him an accidental president. While circumstances play a role in the rise of all political leaders, Carter’s 1976 ascension…
But even if you’re talented and famous, life can be a bitch Memories from a sports-mad childhood were rekindled by the Wall Street Journal’s recent review of Serving Herself: The Life and Times of Althea Gibson. It brought back to mind not only Gibson but also that other female tennis great of the era, Maureen…
Sir Walter Scott and Robert Louis Stevenson's reputations were created primarily by Hollywood
Sir Walter Scott and Robert Louis Stevenson’s reputations were created primarily by Hollywood A recent newspaper feature on people’s early reading experiences reminded me of my own, in which two 19th-century Scottish novelists – Sir Walter Scott and Robert Louis Stevenson – were the key figures. Mind you, they enjoyed a major assist from Hollywood…
Flora Macdonald, who helped Bonnie Prince Charlie escape after the Battle of Culloden, was nothing if not a practical woman A previous column took a look at the life and times of Flora Macdonald, the Scottish woman who went from 1740s rebel to 1770s loyalist. But it left some loose ends and questions unanswered. We’re…
An influential book from 1940 laid the guilt of appeasing Nazi Germany at the feet of 15 public figures
An influential book from 1940 laid the guilt of appeasing Nazi Germany at the feet of 15 public figures While writing a column on Winston Churchill, I thought about the so-called Guilty Men, that being the title of a hugely influential polemic first published in the summer of 1940. The book’s thesis was simple:…