My First Interview
Everyone has to start somewhere, to state the obvious. In my case it was in the lowly capacity of copyboy with The Daily Colonist long before its merger with the Victoria Daily Times—two years of my doing everything and anything but writing, at least on company time. Any writing I did was on my own dime. But knowing and getting along well with editor John Shaw no doubt helped me make my first freelance sale to the paper’s Sunday edition, The Islander. This led to assignments—interviewing people suggested to Shaw and to the city desk but who weren’t considered newsworthy enough to justify a reporter’s time. Many 1960s Victorians were retired and a treasure trove of great stories for those willing to seek them out and to listen. —www.flickr.com Victoria was a retirement Mecca in those days and many...
Read MoreRUMMINGS BOTTLES MORE POPULAR THAN EVER
Rummings bottles, with their logo, a crossed pick and shovel, are as ‘Nanaimo’ as the Bastion, but don’t forget the much-sought-after bottles of John Mitchell, Union Brewery, Alex Phillips’ Pioneer Soda Water, and Louis Lawrence. W.E. Rumming siphon bottles. —www.theouthouse.ca Nanaimo is highly collectible these days. Old Nanaimo, that is. We’re talking pioneer bottlers: Besides Rummings bottles, Louis Lawrence, W.E. Rumming, John Mitchell and Union Brewery have become much sought-after since the bottle collecting craze arrived on Vamcouver Island in the 1960s. Although the hobby has lost some popularity since then, among the die-hards and a new generation of collectors, these old stalwarts have maintained their appeal and have appreciated in value at antique sales, flea markets and online. It was back in May 1886 that the Nanaimo Free Press mentioned John Mitchell of Bastion Street and his Pioneer...
Read MoreVANCOUVER’S OWN TRUNK MURDER
Although it doesn’t rank with the infamous trunk murders of Brighton, New Orleans and Winnie Ruth Judd, Vancouver does have its own sort-of ‘trunk murder.’ –Courtesy www.pinterest.com This bizarre case, which first broke the news with garish, glaring headlines in the July 12, 1969 Vancouver Sun—B.C. MURDER SUSPECT SEIZED WITH HOSTAGE; Buried Body Discovered—was described by an RCMP spokesman as one of “the most bizarre, unbelievable” cases ever recorded in B.C. The story broke with the arrest of former mental patient John Melville Ritcey, 24, near Prince George. Sought in connection with the discovery of a badly decomposed body near Hope. He was armed and had taken a 19-year-old Surrey man, Steve Thorlakson, hostage after commandeering his car (because he couldn’t drive) but surrendered without a struggle when pulled over on the John Hart Highway. Investigators had already identified...
Read MoreCharles Taylor remembered Alberni’s colourful pioneers
“And a very interesting man he was, too,” the late Charles Taylor remembered, years ago. He was referring to Robert Parkinson who appeared in the Alberni Valley in 1885 from London, Eng. A professional shoemarker, he settled beside the small bay which unofficially honours him. Although it’s not formally listed as such in the B.C. Gazetteer, locals have long known the indentation on the west side of Alberni Harbour as Shoemaker Bay. There has to be a story behind how a middle-aged man started life over again, a world away from home, in a cabin just 10 feet square. Its only contents were a bunk, a table, a workbench and a converted oil drum for a stove-heater. Whatever was Parkinson’s past, he kept it to himself. Alberni pioneers, identities unknown. —www.pinterest.com His needs were few; dinner was either salmon...
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