Art Rockwood's Newfoundland and Labrador Trivia

R.G. Moyles is a professor of English at the University of Alberta and
co-author of Imperial Dreams and Colonial Realities: British Views of
Canada, 1880-1914.

“Trivial” used to mean “of small importance; trifling.” Now,
especially in books of “trivia,” it seems to mean “unusual,”
“little-known,” and even “unique.” That, at least, is what it
seems to mean to Art Rockwood, who also adds the definitions
“notable” (as in his list of “Notable Newfoundlanders’) and
“famous” (as in his “Close Encounters of the Famous Kind”).

In the final analysis, then, Rockwood’s book is not a book of
“trivia” at all, but a compendium of interesting facts: biographies
of Newfoundlanders who achieved special distinction (Dinah, the last
black slave in Newfoundland); mentions of famous people who spent a
little time on the island, usually as sportsmen (Hal Holbrook, Chuck
Connors, Zane Grey—omitting such well-known writers as Norman Duncan,
T.G. Roberts, and Robert Lowell); sketches of Newfoundland’s pirates
(of whom Peter Easton is the best known); accounts of some of the movies
that were filmed, partly or wholly, in Newfoundland (The Rowdyman, The
Spirit of St. Louis, Goldfinger); Newfoundland music and musicians; some
favorite radio broadcasts (Gerald S. Doyle Bulletin and The Chronicles
of Uncle Mose); and some unusual societies and organizations
(“Codpeace” and “The Flat Earth Society”); all followed up by
bits of historical nostalgia.

Much of this material will not be new to most Newfoundlanders, even
though Rockwood says that “many items required a lot of research.”
From H.M. Mosdell’s 5000 Facts About Newfoundland (1922) to
Newfoundland Trivia (a game modeled after the famous version),
Newfoundlanders have been engaged in discovering the unusual about their
island and themselves. So, if one is adding to one’s store of
Newfoundlandiana, or if one has not encountered such a compendium
before, Art Rockwood’s is worth having, though it is rather
idiosyncratic and unoriginal.