Posts with the New York Times tag

Barris Beat

Shoe leather and storytelling

Written by Ted Barris on . Leave a comment
CBC News reporter Terry Milewski
CBC News reporter Terry Milewski

The first he knew of the story, came from a phone call early one Sunday morning in 1985. His producers at CBC told him to get on a passenger jet bound for Shannon Airport in Ireland and then to travel south along the Irish coast to where families from India were assembling.

Actually, they were scrambling to the coastline where they hoped they might find their relatives from Canada. CBC reporter Terry Milewski had been assigned to find these families and report on them.

“It was just a bizarre and horrifying situation,” Milewski wrote. “Most of the bodies (of their loved-ones) were never found. Most of the bodies went to the bottom of the sea still strapped in their seats.” (more…)

Barris Beat

Ever the Old World

Written by Ted Barris on . Leave a comment

There used to be a story shared among some of my Greek family members. They were recalling a time 50 years ago, when the Greek Army generals ruled the country. The story goes that a Greek civilian stood on a sidewalk and asked the man standing next to him if he was in the military. The man shook his head.

“Do you have family in the military?” the Greek civilian asked.

“No,” the stranger answered.

“What about friends or acquaintances? Any of them in the military?”

“No.”

“Well then, would mind getting off my foot?” entreats the first man.

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Barris Beat

No honour in silence

Written by Ted Barris on . 1 Comment

When I attended public school in the village of Agincourt (now part of Scarborough) because it was nearly a rural school the playground was sizable. Still, during recess, the boys in my class had to find the tallest maple tree – just off school grounds – to climb. The principal realized if one of us were hurt, he’d be liable. So he declared the tree “off limits.” That didn’t stop us. One day, we were blithely enjoying the tree, when out strode Principal Kilpatrick in a rage. Everybody ran for cover… except me.

“Were you playing in that tree?” Kilpatrick asked me directly.

“Yes,” I said, because I couldn’t hide the fact. (more…)

Barris Beat

Not online, but on the line

Written by Ted Barris on . Leave a comment
In the 1933 version of the classic film, King Kong was played by Carmen Nigro, an actor hired specially for his skill mimicking apes.
I tracked down the actor who played King Kong in the 1933 classic film, with the help of a directory assistance operator in Chicago.

I opened my email on Sunday morning. I was greeted by the usual prompt for my “username.” I keyed that in. Then I got the prompt for the “password.” I entered that. But then something odd happened. The Hotmail account I’ve used for at least six or seven years, disallowed my entry.

“You’re account has been blocked,” was all it said.

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Barris Beat

Celebrity, thy name is Uxbridge

Written by Ted Barris on . 2 Comments

You probably missed it. You can be forgiven because I missed it too. But last Monday the Internet was all a twitter (yes, pun intended) about a birthday event. It’s one that your teeny-bopper kids (or grandkids) probably noticed. It appears that music heart-throb Justin Bieber celebrated his 16th birthday by visiting the Son of a Gun Tattoo and Barbershop in Toronto. There he had a tattoo of a seagull inked onto his left hip.

“That’s a bad area,” the tattoo artist told MTV News. “Justin was nervous, but then he got into it and it was done. It’s very tiny.”

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