Fotheringham's Fictionary of Facts and Follies

Graeme S. Mount is a professor of history at Laurentian University. He
is the author of Canada’s Enemies: Spies and Spying in the Peaceable
Kingdom and The History of Fort St. Joseph, and the co-author of
Invisible and Inaudible in Washington: American

Many would write memoirs near the end of their careers. Fotheringham has
written a “fictionary,” which describes people, places, and events
from his career as a journalist. The entries appear in alphabetical
rather than chronological order. Given his Saskatchewan origins and his
lengthy British Columbia domicile, there are many entries from those
provinces; others are from the rest of Canada, the United States (where
Fotheringham served five years), and England. Most entries are
political, but they also include many of Fotheringham’s journalistic
colleagues, authors Margaret Atwood and Pierre Berton, and hockey
players Wayne Gretzky and Bobby Orr.

The book’s purpose is entertainment, although not every entry is
humorous. Fotheringham expresses disgust with Richard Nixon, Henry
Kissinger, and Ronald Reagan. He deplores violence in hockey. A lawyer
must have vetted the entries on Roy Cohn (a lawyer who assisted the
notorious Senator Joe McCarthy), Conrad Black, and Moose Jaw hockey
player Troy Edwards. He praises New Jersey Senator Bill Bradley and
Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan (whose history he finds exciting), admires Tommy
Douglas, and writes a provocative critique of free trade.
Fotheringham’s literary style is captivating.

There are factual errors (e.g., Spain’s Franco died in 1975, not
1965, and the Detroit riots occurred in 1967, not 1968). And hyperbole
interferes with facts (Fotheringham must have known that the Queen
Mother was not 114 years of age when his book went to press in 2001).
Still, he does provide information and insights not readily available
elsewhere, and he cites biographies of some of his subjects. One might
well skim this book for ideas, then verify them elsewhere.

Much of what appears recalls Fotheringham’s columns in Maclean’s
and The Globe and Mail: he criticizes the royal family, Ottawa, and
Toronto; he refers to the Conservative leader as “Jurassic Clark”;
his politics are left of centre. Still, few will have clipped his
columns, and this book is a handy compendium of his experiences and
opinions.