Ted Barris • Page 86 of 102 • author

Barris speaks of his journey with veterans

Written by Ted Barris on December 27th, 2010. Leave a comment

Ted Barris answers a longstanding return invitation as he addresses the Men’s Group of the Newtonbrook United Church during a dinner gathering on Tuesday, November 15, 2011. He will speak to members about the job of getting veterans to speak about their experiences; his talk is based on his bestselling book “Breaking the Silence: Veterans’ Untold Stories from the Great War to Afghanistan.”

When: 7:00 p.m., Tuesday, Nov. 15, 2011.

Where: Newtonbrook United Church, 53 Cummer Ave., Toronto.

Contact: Paul Smith, Church office 416-222-5417, karpa@rogers.com

Best Christmas present ever

Written by Ted Barris on December 24th, 2010January 5th, 2011. Leave a comment

Homemade Barris Christmas angel ornament (fashioned by our daughter Quenby in 1980s).

It happened after I’d graduated from Ryerson in 1971. I’d learned about a position writing press releases and biographies about up-and-coming rock ‘n’ roll musicians. They called it A&R, an artist and repertoire position. My employer would be one of the biggest recording labels in the world – Warner Brothers. And, they told me, I would be working from a brand new office in Yorkville, the heart of Toronto’s pop music world.

I wanted that job so badly I could taste it. I applied in June, got it in September and was told I’d start in December. It would be my biggest, best Christmas present ever. Then, the roof caved in.

“Sorry to have to tell you this,” the Warner Brothers flunky said on the phone that December. “Changed their minds. No A&R office. No job.”

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Pre-Christmas dedication

Written by Ted Barris on December 15th, 2010December 17th, 2010. Leave a comment

Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King pins wings on the uniform of an early graduate of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan during a symbolic ceremony on Parliament Hill. King made sure the plan became an entirely made-in-Canada phenomenon.

December 17 is an anniversary. It’s not the kind of anniversary Canadians notice much anymore. Indeed, the number of those who acknowledge it, dwindles each year. And yet, it’s the day back in 1939 that some historians suggest marked this country’s true declaration of independence. Then Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King signed an international agreement that day.

“I suppose no more significant agreement has ever been signed by the Government of Canada,” King wrote in his diary that evening. It also happened to be his 65th birthday, so it was doubly auspicious, he thought.

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D-Day focus as Ted Barris addresses 2011 Remembrance event at Shedden

Written by Ted Barris on December 12th, 2010August 14th, 2011. Leave a comment

Back for his fifth appearance at the annual Shedden Remembrance Day observance, Ted Barris will pay tribute to a group of veterans whose unique experience changed the complexion of the Second World War. Based on his bestselling 2004 book, “JUNO: Canadians at D-Day, June 6, 1944,” Ted looks at some of the unheralded Canadians who made the greatest military gamble of the Second World War succeed. Operation Overlord depended on the lightning strike capability and efficiency of all three Allied armies – U.S., British and Canadian – on D-Day. Ted Barris’s definitive book on the Canadian story that day will be the focus of this year’s talk.

When: 9:30 a.m to 11:30 a.m., Sunday, November 6, 2011.

Where: Keystone Complex, Shedden, Ontario.

Contact: Michele Drewitt, Township of Southwold, 519-769-2010, mdrewitt@twp.southwold.on.ca

Barris returns to 413 Wing annual dinner in Trenton

Written by Ted Barris on December 12th, 2010December 12th, 2010. Leave a comment

Back by popular demand, Ted Barris returns to the RCAF 413 (A/C Leonard Birchall) Wing at Trenton, Ont., on Saturday, Nov. 26, 2011. Following his talk about instructors in the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan, during the Second World War, Ted has been invited back to look at another of his topical works. In 2009, his book “Breaking the Silence: Veterans’ Untold Stories from the Great War to Afghanistan” was published. It quickly became a bestseller. But more important, the book began to generate a lot of buzz about the nature of getting veterans to talk about their experiences and equally fascinating, Ted’s exploration of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and its indelible impact on veterans then and now. That’s the subject of his return-visit talk.

When: Saturday, Nov. 26, 2011.

Where: 413 Wing, 230 North Murray St., Trenton, Ont., 613-392-2774

Contact: Art Darnbrough 613-965-5837 or Joanne Peckham 613-392-3878

Barris brings story of Vimy Ridge to Scarborough Historical Society

Written by Ted Barris on December 10th, 2010. Leave a comment

Ted Barris offers a unique telling of the famous WWI battle at Vimy Ridge, that, he says, gave birth to the country’s nationhood. At the April meeting of the Scarborough Historical Society, Barris will offer insights and images gleaned from some of the individual accounts – old interviews, memoirs, letters and diaries of the Canadian Corps troops – he assembled in the research/writing of his book “Victory at Vimy: Canada Comes of Age, April 9-12, 1917.”

When: Tuesday, April 26, 2011.

Where: Bendale Library, Scarborough, Ont., 613-392-2774

Contact: Jan Howe, chair of program committee, janicelhowe@sympatico.ca

Barris casts light on the expriences of veterans

Written by Ted Barris on December 10th, 2010December 10th, 2010. Leave a comment

Ted Barris addresses the Canadian Club of Durham Region during a luncheon meeting on Wednesday, February 2, 2011. He will speak to members about the job of getting veterans to speak about their experiences; his talk is based on two recent bestselling books “Breaking the Silence: Veterans’ Untold Stories from the Great War to Afghanistan” and “Deadlock in Korea: Canadians at War 1050-1953.”

When: 12 noon., Wednesday, Feb. 2, 2011.

Where: Holiday Inn, 1011 Bloor St. E., Oshawa, Ontario.

Contact: Tim Davies, speakers convener, timcdavies@rogers.com

What public courage deserves

Written by Ted Barris on December 8th, 2010December 15th, 2010. 1 Comment

“In order for us as a team to protect our player...” Greg Walsh said, “we said that we weren’t going to play..."

There’s a brave hockey coach in our midst. He’s paying a pretty severe penalty at the moment. You might have heard about him. A few weeks ago, Greg Walsh was coaching his Peterborough-area minor hockey team – a team of 16-year-old boys.

In the heat of a game, an opposing player blurted out a racial slur at one of Walsh’s players. The boy used the N-word. Walsh couldn’t believe his ears. He responded with the most demonstrative action he could think of.

“In order for us as a team to protect our player from that,” Walsh told a Toronto Star reporter, “we said that we weren’t going to play and we went to the dressing room.”

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Champions of a dream

Written by Ted Barris on November 30th, 2010December 6th, 2010. Leave a comment

Don Harron collaborated with Norman Campbell to produce the first TV version of "Anne of Green Gables" for CBC in 1956.

It was 1956. Television was in its infancy. Canadian programs such as Cross-Canada Hit Parade, Front Page Challenge, The Big Revue and, yes, the Barris Beat, were new on the tube. This country’s actors, singers, dancers, writers and directors were just getting their show-business legs in a new medium. One of its rising stars, a multi-faceted comedic actor named Don Harron, happened to meet another up-and-comer, producer Norman Campbell.

“What am I going to do?” Campbell asked Harron. “I’ve got 90 minutes of time to fill on CBC TV and no program.”

“I’ve got an idea,” Harron said. “Let’s put ‘Anne of Green Gables’ on TV.”

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The price of these words

Written by Ted Barris on November 25th, 2010November 25th, 2010. Leave a comment

Cover image from "International Free Expression Review 2010," published by the Canadian Journalists for Free Expression.

I hear it among my colleagues often – industry complaints. Some of my friends in newspaper journalism worry about the uncertainty of their jobs. Others in the magazine business object to their copy being squeezed by over-sized ads. Meanwhile, those of my associates in the electronic media whine about insufficient pensions to cover their expenses when they retire.

I wonder if any of them would ever complain again, if they knew the plight of Cameroon Express editor Bibi Ngota. Earlier this year, while imprisoned at Kondengui prison in Cameroon, he died of “abandonment (and) improper care,” according to official records.

Why was he in jail? According to a press release from the organization Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE), “(He) was charged with ‘imitating the signature of a member of government,’” short for criticizing the Cameroonian government.

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