Fascinating Canada. John Robert Colombo

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      037. Did Joachim von Ribbentrop ever visit Canada?

      Joachim von Ribbentrop was a German aristocrat, royalist, and careerist who, swallowing principle, befriended Adolf Hitler and joined the Nazi Party. He ashamedly offered it the benefit of his contacts, experiences, and talents. He spent 1910 to 1914 in Canada, except for a short visit to Germany and a stint as a journalist in New York City. Von Ribbentrop learned to speak British English as a young man, and the British Empire impressed him as a system of government and trade. In subsequent years he tried to convince Hitler of the need to mingle some aristocrats among the ambitious non-aristocratic officers and to restore the Hohenzollern monarchy to Germany and Austria. The details appear in John Weitz’s biography Hitler’s Diplomat: The Life and Times of Joachim von Ribbentrop (1992).

      038. Who lives in the residences known as Rideau Cottage and 11 Rideau Gate?

      Rideau Cottage and 11 Rideau Gate are two residences located on the grounds of the estate known as Government House or Rideau Hall, the official residence of the governor general.

      Rideau Cottage was erected by the first governor general, Lord Monk, and it subsequently served as the residence of the governor general’s secretary.

      A temporary residence for official guests who for one reason or another have not been offered rooms in Rideau Hall itself, 11 Rideau Gate has no permanent residents.

      039. Was Terry Fox the subject of a song written and sung by Rod Stewart?

      Rod Stewart, the American hard-rock singer and performer, headed a benefit in Boston, Massachusetts, on August 5, 1989, to honour the memory of Terry Fox — the marathon runner who died at the age of twenty-two in 1981. Stewart wrote and performed a song titled “Never Give Up on a Dream.” It includes such lines as “Inspiring all to never lose, / It’ll take a long, long time for someone to fill your shoes. / It’ll take somebody who is a lot like you, / Who never gave up on a dream.” Its royalties are earmarked for cancer research.

      040. Who was the last Canadian combatant killed during the Second World War?

      The last Canadian combatant killed during the Second World War was Lieutenant Robert Hampton Gray, a Royal Canadian Navy Volunteer Reserve pilot and a native of Nelson, B.C. He was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross for bravery. He was twenty-seven years old when he died.

      Gray was killed early in the morning of August 9, 1945, the day an atomic bomb was exploded over Nagasaki. Flying a Corsair launched from the desk of a British aircraft carrier, he was able to sink an enemy warship, but was caught in enemy fire. With his Corsair crippled, he crashed into Onagawa Bay. A memorial to his bravery was erected on August 9, 1989, at Sakiyami Park, which overlooks Onagawa Bay on the Honshu coast of Japan. The memorial was the first on Japanese soil to honour a foreign serviceman.

      041. Are there years that Canadian athletes have failed to win gold medals at the Olympic Games?

      Canadian athletes are among the world’s best, despite government programs that have inhibited and impeded their best efforts, especially at the Olympic Games.

      Canadian competitors won no gold medals at the winter games in 1936 (Berlin), 1956 (Cortina), 1972 (Sapporo), and 1980 (Lake Placid). As well, Canadians failed to win gold medals at the summer games in 1972 (Munich), and 1976 (Moscow). At these games, Canadians earned silver and bronze medals in good numbers, but not one gold medal.

      042. Was there an assassination attempt on the life of Tim Buck?

      Tim Buck was the popular leader of the Communist Party of Canada. His actions were found to be in contravention of Section 98 of the Criminal Code (the “seditious conspiracy” clause used to deal with dissidents), and he was serving a five-year sentence in Kingston Penitentiary when a riot broke out. Six shots in three volleys were fired into his cell the night of October 17, 1932. By falling to the floor in time, he was unhurt. Buck was released on November 24, 1934, having served half of his sentence. Tim Buck emerged a hero. Two years later the controversial Section 98 was repealed.

      043. Which Russian ballet dancer defected in Toronto?

      Mikhail Baryshnikov, a leading dancer with the Kirov Ballet, which was then touring North America, defected on June 30, 1974, following a performance at the O’Keefe Centre in Toronto. He was immediately granted asylum and went on to re-establish his Russian reputation in the capitals of the Western world.

      044. Who is the chief Boy Scout in Canada?

      By virtue of his office, the chief Boy Scout in Canada is the governor general of Canada. The chief Girl Guide is the wife of the governor general.

      045. Who or what was “Mrs. Mike”?

      Mrs. Mike was the title of a best-selling biography of Katherine Mary O’Fallon, a high-spirited, sixteen-year-old Boston girl who meets and marries Michael (Mike) Flannigan, a gallant RCMP sergeant with “eyes so blue you could swim in them.” He introduces an urban woman to the delights of northern life at Hudson’s Hope, Yukon Territory, before the First World War. It was written by two American writers, Benedict and Nancy Freedman, and turned into the movie Mrs. Mike (1949), directed by Louis King and starring Dick Powell and Evelyn Keyes.

      046. How many Marx brothers were there?

      Were there four Marx brothers, or seven, or eleven?

      One immediately thinks of the American vaudevillians and movie personalities: Groucho, Harpo, Zeppo, Beppo. But there was also a Canadian family of seven Marx brothers, known as “The Canadian Kings of the Repertoire” from Cape Breton to the Cariboo, according to an article in Early Canadian Life, August 1978.

      The Canadian Marx brothers were a troupe of entertainers headed by Thomas Sr., a former cobbler from Perth, Ontario, who led his sons — R.W., Joseph, Thomas, Ernie, Alex, John, and McIntyre. Each son had his own specialty, whether song, dance, recitations, sketches, melodrama (villainy versus virtue), slide show, etc. They entered the town with a brass-band parade and ran a “clean” show. It was said that no one ever saw the Marx company twice — “he died laughing.”

      The Marx Company toured from 1870 to the 1920s, when it came to break up. Thomas Sr. once saw Groucho Marx perform but felt the American comedian’s act was not smooth enough!

      047. Whose body lay in state in the old Montreal Forum?

      The funeral of hockey player Howie Morenz, know as the Stratford Streak, was held in the old Montreal Forum, at centre ice, on March 11, 1937. Fifty thousand people filed past the catafalque, and 250,000 Quebeckers lined the route to the cemetery. It was the most-attended funeral service in Canadian history.

      048. Were Ukrainian Canadians mistreated during and following the Great War?

      In 1988 the Ukrainian Committee of the Civil Liberties Commission determined that from 1914 to 1920, 8,579 so-called enemy aliens were incarcerated, including women and children. According to Victor Malarek, “Ukrainian Canadians Seeking Redress,” the Globe and Mail, January 15, 1988, “Of that number, 3,138 could be classified as prisoners of war ... the other 5,441 were civilians ... a further 88,000, most of them Ukrainian, were categorized as enemy aliens and were obliged to report regularly to their local police authorities or to the North West Mounted Police.” This was done legally under the War Measures Act of 1914.

      049. Who was the witch of Plumb Hollow?

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