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One of my true regrets of having earned my journalistic spurs back in the ‘60s is that newspapers and magazines at the time were mostly black and white. Meaning no, or rarely, colour photos because they were too expensive to process and to print. Meaning that I took 1000s of photos in black and white—and we now live in an age of full colour reproduction!
Read MoreIt's not that Telesforo Trinidad wasn't duly recognized at the time: he was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honour, the highest American commendation for courage when the CMH could be awarded for heroism in non-combat duty.
Read MoreUp until recent years, Penelakut Island, east of Chemainus and midway between Saltair and Ladysmith, was known as Kuper Island. It was originally named, as were 100s of other B.C. geographical place names, after a British naval officer.
Read MoreOne of the victims of the wildfire that ravaged Lytton earlier this month was the privately owned Lytton Chinese History Museum. The creation of Lorna Fandrich was built on an empty lot on Main Street that was said to be the site of a Chinese joss house or temple, 1881-1928.
Read MoreIn my promo for this week’s Chronicle I noted that, as recently as the 1960s, Victoria was so quiet, t’was said they rolled up the sidewalks at night. It was even called a cemetery with a business section. Times have certainly changed, if not for the better, crime-wise.
Read MoreWhat a ride it has been. Two days ago we marked—celebrated seems too strong a word in the face of recent events—the 150th anniversary of British Columbia as a province of Canada. If ever we as Canadians had a moral duty to be good citizens by informing ourselves and engaging in a renewal of our society it’s now.
Read MoreDramatic headlines for Jan. 15, 1903 proving that it was a great news story is the fact that these headlines are from the Winnipeg Free Press which had picked up the story by wire.
Read MoreOne of the victims of the wildfire that ravaged Lytton last week was the privately owned Lytton Chinese History Museum. The creation of Lorna Fandrich was built on an empty lot on Main Street that was said to be the site of a Chinese joss house or temple, 1881-1928.
Read MoreA stroll along Ladysmith’s Sixth Avenue is a stroll into the past—Boer War era.
Read MoreAs you read this it’s—or it isn’t, depending upon your response to calls for its ‘cancellation’—Canada Day.
I never thought I’d live to see July 1st be anything but a celebration of Canada’s birthday. But then I didn’t foresee events unfolding as they have over the past few years, and the last few months in particular.
Performed at Chemainus Theatre amid rave reviews, the Other Guys Theatre Company’s Good Timber was “a terrific local history lesson” built around (to quote the Cowichan NewsLeader Pictorial) “the logging camp poems of former Chemainus sawmill worker Robert E. Swanson [featuring] many historic clips of Cowichan’s logging days.” Bob who?
Read MoreIn his prime actor John Wood was hailed as an actor who “stood alone on the Pacific Coast”. But when he died he became an embarrassment to almost all who knew him when the circumstances surrounding his death touched off a furor that only ended in a crowded courtroom...
Read MoreGrowing up in Saanich (okay, Victoria) as I did, the CPR’s fabled B.C. Steamships’ Princess ships are part of my DNA. From the beginning I was drawn to the Inner Harbour and the comings and goings of these beautiful black and white pocket liners with their buff funnels and checker board logos.
Read MoreThere’s nothing like a challenge to get the blood flowing. It’s been 46 years since I wrote Ghost Town Trails of Vancouver Island which has been in continuous print all that time. One chapter deals with my “first” ghost town which qualified as such because I could drive to it. (Not many B.C. ‘ghost towns’ allow you this luxury, believe me.)
Read MoreWe like to think that history repeats itself. Maybe yes, maybe no. But there’s no doubting that history does an about-face from time to time. You couldn’t find a greater contrast between these two news stories, which occurred 143 years apart, if you tried.
Read MoreTraditional First Nation names are cropping up everywhere these days. Latest is the rechristening of a campground beside the Pat Bay Highway between Sidney and the ferry terminal.
Read MoreEven though he’s been dead for almost a century, one of British Columbia’s most infamous con men is back in the news. dward Arthur Wilson, aka Brother XII, may be long gone but the legends of the religious cult he founded at Cedar-by-the-Sea (Cedar) and on DeCourcy and Cortez Islands in the 1920s live on.
Let’s begin with an update on the Oct. 17, 1951 Mount Benson plane crash that I told you about several months ago. At the time, with 23 dead, it was B.C.’s worst aviation disaster. The 70th anniversary of this tragedy is fast approaching…
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