Webster!
Description
Contains Photos
$22.95
ISBN 0-88894-706-2
DDC 070'.92
Author
Publisher
Year
Contributor
Edith Fowke is a professor emeritus at York University and author of the
recently published Canadian Folklore: Perspectives on Canadian Culture.
Review
Webster’s story is full of fascinating, amusing, and tragic incidents.
Most people in Canada will know his public profile from his radio and
television shows, but his book adds a new dimension by throwing light on
a tragedy in his private life. The first child of Jack and his wife
Margaret, born before their marriage, was given up for adoption, and
Margaret regretted this the rest of her life. She finally managed to
trace her daughter, and they were reunited—an event that gave them
much pleasure. However, Margaret’s repeated illnesses (which led to
her death in 1987) cast a shadow on Jack’s ever-growing fame.
Despite this, Jack could look back on his life with considerable
satisfaction. Born into a poor Glasgow family, he had to go to work as a
young boy, and by his teens had become a reporter for Glasgow
newspapers, later getting a job on a London paper. After World War II he
came to Canada and got work on the Vancouver Sun. He soon earned a
reputation as a skilled investigative reporter, exposing Communist
influence in the trade unions and corruption in the police force. In the
1950s he moved to radio, broadcasting reports of dramatic events and
juicy scandals and running one of the first talk shows. Later he
appeared on television, but radio remained his first love. He jousted
with Pierre Trudeau and Shirley MacLaine, acted as liaison during a
prison riot, exposed criminal lawyers, and generally enjoyed himself,
his Scots accent becoming stronger as he aged. Many of his anecdotes are
entertaining and his story is fun to read.