Pierre Berton

From Nwe

Pierre Francis Berton, (July 12, 1920 – November 30, 2004) was a noted Canadian author of non-fiction, especially Canadiana and Canadian history, and was a well-known television personality and journalist.

An accomplished storyteller, Berton was one of Canada's most prolific and popular authors. He wrote 50 books, covering popular culture, Canadian history, critiques of mainstream religion, anthologies, children's books and historical works for youth. He is credited with popularizing Canadian history and is perhaps that nation's best–loved writer. He received nearly 40 awards and recognitions throughout his life and was honored with a dozen honorary degrees.

Pierre Berton died in Toronto on November 30, 2004 of congestive heart failure. He was survived by his wife Janet and eight children. At the time of his passing he had 14 grandchildren. Ten years before his death he wrote in a Toronto Star newspaper column that he hoped his obituary would read, "a great Canadian voice has died after a long battle with life." [1]

Biography

Pierre Francis Berton was born July 20, 1920 in Whitehorse, Yukon, and raised in the Yukon, where his parents had moved for the 1898 Klondike Gold Rush. He worked in Klondike mining camps during his years as a history major at the University of British Columbia, where he also worked on the student paper "The Ubyssey." He spent his early newspaper career in Vancouver, British Columbia, where at the age of 21 he was the youngest city editor on any Canadian daily, replacing editorial staff that had been called to serve during the Second World War.

Berton himself was conscripted into the Canadian Army under the National Resources Mobilization Act in 1942 and attended basic training in British Columbia, nominally as a reinforcement soldier intended for The Seaforth Highlanders of Canada. He elected to "go Active" (the euphemism for volunteering for overseas service) and his aptitude was such that he was appointed Lance Corporal and attended NCO school, and became a basic training instructor in the rank of corporal. Due to a background in university COTC and inspired by other citizen-soldiers who had been commissioned, he sought training as an officer. [2]

Berton spent the next several years attending a variety of military courses, becoming, in his words, the most highly trained officer in the military. He was notified for overseas duty many times, and was granted embarkation leave many times, each time finding his overseas draft being cancelled. A coveted trainee slot with the Canadian Intelligence Corps saw Berton, now a Captain, trained to act as an Intelligence Officer (IO), and after a stint as an instructor at the Royal Military College in Kingston, Ontario, he finally went overseas in March 1945. In the U.K., he was told that he would have to re–qualify as an Intelligence Officer because the syllabus in the U.K. was different from that in the intelligence school in Canada. By the time Berton had requalified, the war in Europe had ended. He volunteered for the Canadian Army Pacific Force (CAPF), granted a final "embarkation leave," and found himself no closer to combat employment by the time the Japanese surrendered in September 1945. [3]

Career

Berton moved to Toronto in 1947, and at the age of 31 was named managing editor of Maclean's. In 1957 he became a key member of the CBC's public affairs flagship program, Close-Up, and a permanent panelist on the popular television show Front Page Challenge. He joined the Toronto Star as associate editor and columnist in 1958, leaving in 1962, returning to television to commence The Pierre Berton Show, which ran until 1973. Thereafter he appeared as host and writer on My Country, The Great Debate, Heritage Theatre, The Secret of My Success and The National Dream.

He served as the Chancellor of Yukon College and, along with numerous honorary degrees, received over 30 literary awards such as the Governor-General's Award for Creative Non-Fiction (three times), the Stephen Leacock Medal of Humour, and the Gabrielle Léger National Heritage Award.

He is a member of Canada's Walk of Fame, having been inducted in 1998. In The Greatest Canadian project, he was voted #31 in the list of great Canadians.

In 2004, Berton published his 50th book, Prisoners of the North, after which he announced in an interview with CanWest News Service that he was retiring from writing.

On October 17, 2004 the $(Canadian)12.6 million Pierre Berton Resource Library, named in his honor, was opened in Vaughan, Ontario. He had lived in nearby Kleinburg, Ontario, for about 50 years.

Berton died at Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto, reportedly of heart failure, at the age of 84 on November 30, 2004.

His childhood home in Dawson City, now known as "Berton House," is a writers' retreat. Established writers apply for three-month long subsidized residencies there; while in residence, they give a public reading in both Dawson City and Whitehorse. Many books have been created during the tenancy of writers. The Berton House Retreat is sponsored by the Canada Council for the Arts, Random House Canada Limited, and Klondike Visitors Association.

Works

Television

Pierre Berton, though known most widely for his numerous books, was also an important television presence from the earliest days of Canadian television. For more than 30 years he was a constant presence, and by the 1970s was perhaps the most well known and highly popular television personality.

His shows included:

Writings

Berton's books with description

Berton was both a journalist and an historian, a combination that endeared him to his fellow countrymen as he brought Canadian history to life through his writings. His 50 books include:

Berton wrote the forward to this book which features the contributions of writers who have won recognition as some of Canada's best known historians and writers.
The lives of five inspiring and controversial characters are chronicled in these tales of courage, fortitude, and adventure in Canada’s harsh north.
A witty and practical guide for writers, including interviews with nearly 30 of Canada's best known authors.
A collection of lively cat tales!
“I have called this period Canada’s Turbulent Years – turbulent not only because of the battles we fought on the African veldt, the ravaged meadows of Flanders, the forbidding spine of Italy, and the conical hills of Korea, but turbulent in other ways. These were Canada’s formative years, when she resembled an adolescent, grappling with the problems of puberty, often at odds with her parents, craving to be treated as an adult, hungry for the acclaim of her peers, and wary of the dominating presence of a more sophisticated neighbour.” – From the Introduction
Features true stories of mystery, romance, tragedy and heroism, from the piracy of Bill Johnston, scourge of the Saint Lawrence, to the weird saga of Brother XII and his mystic cult on Vancouver Island.
Details the adventures of those drawn to the Falls; heroes and villains, eccentrics and daredevils, scientists, and power brokers, visionaries and industrialists and the lives they've created.
Berton tells with passion the stories of Canada's settlers—a million people who filled a thousand miles of prairie in a single generation.
A children's book based on the adventures of five children as they discover and explore a vast,mysterious world of caverns and rivers hidden beneath a trapdoor in the floor of their clubhouse.
Bertons' best-selling book details the North's great quests: the search for the Passage linking the Atlantic and the Pacific, and the international race to reach the North Pole. Includes tales of Edward Parry, John Franklin, Robert Peary and Roald Amundsen. He also credits the Inuit, whose tracking and hunting skills saved the lives of the adventurers and their men countless times.
In this best-seller, Berton retells the decade in Canada's history which began with the stock market crash of 1929 and ended with the Second World War. A child of the era, he writes passionately of people starving in the midst of plenty.
Winner of the Governor General's award for non-fiction, Klondike is authentic history and considered a must-read for anyone interested in the Canadian frontier.
Recounts the 1917 Battle of Vimy Ridge. Berton brings to life the moment of tragedy and greatness that marked Canada's emergence as a nation.
The War of 1812 is told in vivid prose as the heroes and heroines, as well as the villians and cowards, of this 'bloody and senseless' conflict are brought to life.
A lively tale of the first year of war on the U.S.-Canadian border. "Berton believes that if there had been no war, most of Ontario would probably be American today; and if the war had been lost by the British, all of Canada would now be part of the United States. But the War of 1812, or more properly the myth of the war, served to give the new settlers a sense of community and set them on a different course from that of their neighbours."
The adventures of the men who, between 1881 and 1885, helped forge Canada into one nation through the building of the 2,000–mile Canadian Pacific Railway.
Chronicles the fight for, or against, the great Canadian Railway. Berton used diaries, letters, unpublished manuscripts, public documents and newspapers to reconstruct this incredible decade.
A humorous look back at the twentieth century, with equally humorous visions of the upcoming century.
Written over a period of 50 years; a compilation of some of Berton's favorite essays, articles, bits of history, chapters from out-of-print books, an occasional verse, and a stage sketch or two.
Canada's centennial year, described by Berton himself: "It was a golden year, and so it seems in retrospect—a year in which we let off steam like schoolboys whooping and hollering at term's end… By any number of measurements we are healthier and wealthier than in 1967. If we are better off today, then why all the hand wringing?"
A record of Berton's journalistic history and the stories behind the stories.
Berton's most controversial work, this book caused a commotion when it was released in 1965. Among other things, Berton accused church leaders of "sitting on the fence" and thereby supporting the use of atomic weapons in Japan at the end of World War II.
Berton challenges the concepts of the status quo and society in general as he questions the "normalcy" of life in the twentieth century regarding work, happiness, security and freedom. [5]
Winner of the Governor-General's Award. This is an adventure story and more, moving from the the Ice Age to the present.
A humorous and affectionate look at what makes Candadians different from their American cousins.
In the author's own words: "In many ways the great quest was an approximation of life itself, for in its several stages it mirrored the naïvité of childhood, the enthusiasm of youth, the disillusionment of middle age, and the wisdom of maturity." [6]

Berton's additional books

Awards

In his lifetime, Berton received 37 awards and recognitions, along with a dozen honorary degrees.

Honorary Degrees

Legacy

Pierre Berton was greatly loved throughout Canada for his ability to touch the patriotic soul through his own patriotism and pride in his country. His legacy can best be voiced by those who knew and loved him:

Notes

  1. ↑ Myrna Oliver. December 7, 2004. Obituaries: Pierre Berton, Canadian Writer, Historian, Talk Show Host, Friends of Canadian Broadcasting. Retrieved May 25, 2007.
  2. ↑ Pierre Berton. Starting Out. (McLelland and Stewart, 1987).
  3. ↑ Ibid.
  4. ↑ Television, Pierre Berton Webpage. Retrieved May 9, 2007.
  5. ↑ Description of books from Pierre Berton Writer and books, Pierre Berton Webpage. Retrieved May 9, 2007.
  6. ↑ The Klondike Quest, Yukon Info.com. Retrieved May 10, 2007.
  7. ↑ Information on awards and honors from Pierre Berton Awards and Recognition, Pierre Berton Webpage. Retrieved May 11, 2007.
  8. ↑ Myrna Oliver. December 7, 2004. Obituaries: Pierre Berton, 84, Friends of Canadian Broadcasting. Retrieved May 11, 2007.
  9. ↑ CTVA can News Staff. December 1, 2004. Beloved Canadian author Pierre Berton dies, CTVca. Retrieved May 11, 2007.

References
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External links

All links retrieved November 23, 2022.

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