Posts Tagged ‘John Rae!’
Portrait of the colourist in Orkney . . . with dog
Sheena Fraser McGoogan “is a colourist, but a colourist on steroids,” the art critic writes. “Her work reminds me in a way of L.S Lowry, but on acid. Her paintings leap off the wall at you. They demand to be noticed. They are bold to the point of fearlessness, using bright colours to make a…
Read MoreArctic explorer celebrates in Hamilton with Supercrawl
Arctic explorer John Rae is going up against Supercrawl this Saturday night. At first, I felt dismayed. But as a metaphor, a David-and-Goliath, I think the juxtaposition works almost perfectly. Supercrawl is a wildly successful Hamilton street festival that celebrates arts and culture. Last year, it attracted 80,0000 people. What’s not to love? John Rae,…
Read MoreCalgary festivities prove you CAN go home again
Tonight’s the night John Rae turns up in Calgary. The Arctic explorer will be there in spirit, anyway, for my talk at the U of C. The event, sponsored by Clan MacRae, helps kick off the 2013 Calgary Highland Games. Today’s Calgary Herald ran a terrific piece by Chris Nelson, headlined Clan Macrae leads the…
Read MoreUniversity of Calgary Celebrates Arctic Explorer
John Rae festivities set for Canada, Orkney
John Rae has legs. His contemporaries knew that. They hailed him as the greatest snowshoe traveler of the Victorian era. Here in the 21st century, the peerless Arctic explorer has been carrying Fatal Passage overland for more than a decade. He has turned it into my all-time bestselling book, and for that I am grateful.…
Read MoreArctic explorer heading for University of Calgary
A big shout-out to folks at the University of Calgary. On short notice, they have found a superb venue for my August 30 presentation on John Rae, the Arctic explorer who discovered the fate of the Franklin expedition. Originally, we had intended to use the Calgary Central Library, but flood damage precluded that. Nothing daunted,…
Read MoreCircling Calgary with John Rae on board
Those who check this page religiously (hi, mom) will have noticed that Our Hero “updated” his last posting, taking out a reference to venue. Yes, the Scots are still marching to Calgary and we’re on our way, too. Originally, to give our talk about explorer John Rae, called Return to Rae Strait, we were making…
Read MoreThe Scots Are Marching to Calgary
The Calgary Highland Games were good enough for Rick Mercer. He turned up, tossed the caber (admittedly shortened), and generally had a grand old time. You can see for yourself right here. This year, 2013, marks the 100th anniversary of these Scottish games. As luck would have it, this year also marks the 200th anniversary…
Read MoreOur Hero brings John Rae back to Calgary
In 1999, when he was working as books editor at the Calgary Herald, Our Hero traveled to the Arctic with a fellow Calgarian to erect a plaque at the spot where explorer John Rae discovered the final link in the Northwest Passage. He told that story in his award-winning book Fatal Passage, which became an…
Read MoreJohn Rae lives!
As you can see from this poster, an international conference on Arctic explorer John Rae is happening in Orkney this September. Rae solved the riddle of the lost 1845 expedition of Sir John Franklin, and also discovered the final link in the Northwest Passage. Yes, I will be in Stromness during the conference, serving as…
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