Canada’s History Magazine: The Beaver

He was the quintessential Crazy Canuck.

Canadian skier Dave Irwin made history in December of 1975 when he won the World Cup Downhill against reigning champion Franz Klammer. The margin of victory ‹ 1.61 seconds ‹ remains the largest by a Canadian in a World Cup Downhill event.A bold, aggressive skier, Irwin made a name for himself on the legendary ski team known as the Crazy Canucks. (You can read more about the Crazy Canucks in the December 2008/January 2010 issue of The Beaver).

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With the dark days of the Second World War behind them, Canadians were looking for a new kind of hero. And they found her. Her name was Barbara Ann Scott.

From 1945 to 1948, this feisty young Canadian woman from Ottawa took the figure skating world by storm, winning championship after championship, culminating in an Olympic gold medal at St. Moritz.

They called her Canada¹s Sweetheart then, and her popularity went so far as to create problems for her on the eve her Olympic event. To learn more about that, read the December 2009/January 2010 issue of The Beaver.

Beaver associate editor Nelle Oosterom reached Barbara Ann Scott at her home in Florida.

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Ramsay Cook, former editor of the Dictionary of Canadian Biography, explains how putting the dictionary online saved the publication from obscurity.

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Historian Ramsay Cook answers this question in this podcast with Beaver associate editor  Nelle Oosterom.

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Podcast with Beverley Tallon, editorial assistant of The Beaver and skiing champion Nancy Greene Raine – part 2 (3.39)

Nancy Greene retired from competitive skiing in 1968. She married her husband Al Raine the following year and together they have made skiing their life’s vocation.

Greene informs us of their work inspiring young athletes and her latest role as a Canadian Senator.

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Podcast with Beverley Tallon, editorial assistant of The Beaver and skiing champion Nancy Greene Raine – part 1 (6:28)

Nancy Greene grew up skiing and went on to compete in three Olympics. In 1968 at the Winter Olympic Games in Grenoble France, she captured a gold medal in the giant slalom and silver in the slalom.

Greene tells us of her love of skiing and the thrill of winning.

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This November, the newly expanded Canada’s History Awards will be handed out in Ottawa. Among the awards handed out will be the Sir John A. Macdonald Prize, given by the Canadian Historical Association to the best scholarly history publication.

This year’s winner is Prof. Ian McKay of Queen’s University. McKay’s book, Reasoning Otherwise: Leftists and the People’s Enlightenment in Canada, 1890-1920. A Q & A with Prof. McKay is featured in the October/November 2009 issue of The Beaver.

Beaver Editor Mark Reid spoke with Prof. McKay’s in late summer about his research into history of leftists in Canada.

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In May 2009, a Victoria Cross, along with eight other war medals belonging to Canadian First World War veteran Robert Shankland, was auctioned in Toronto.

Controversy surrounded the sale, and the story of that auction, and the troubling questions it raises, is the focus of the article Valour Sold, available in the October/November 2009 issue of The Beaver magazine.

The medals were ultimately purchased by the Canadian War Museum.

Shortly after the auction, Beaver Editor Mark Reid spoke with Mark O¹Neill, the director general of the War Museum, about its newest acquisitions.

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A conversation with Maurice D. Smith, marine historian and Nelle Oosterom, associate editor of The Beaver. The Great Lakes has been a graveyard for ships for hundreds of years. Marine historian Maurice D. Smith talk about why the lakes have been so dangerous to mariners throughout history.

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Search the ocean for a long-lost shipwreck is no easy task. But Jacques Marc, explorations director for the Underwater Archeology Society of B.C., will be doing just that this summer. Hear Marc talks about his quest with Beaver associate editor Nelle Oosterom.

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