The anthem’s chorus runs as follows: “Who’s going to break this silence, who’s going to fight the fight? / Stand up and be counted, and give us back the night. / Who’s going to break this silence, who’s going to fight the fight? / Stand up and be counted, and give us back the night.” When the chorus is repeated the third time, the following words are added: “Give women back the night.”
Kerr composed and copyrighted the moving anthem on October 17, 1989, as if in anticipation of the Montreal Massacre of fourteen women students at l’Ecole Polytechnique in Montreal, December 6, 1989. The anthem is now performed at the annual vigils that commemorate the massacre. An audio cassette, Give Us Back the Night / Redonnez-Nous la Nuit (Open Mind, 1989), includes the following notice: “We dedicate this recording to the fourteen women whose dreams were crushed on December 6, 1989, at l’Ecole Polytechnique, Montréal.” The cassette lists the names of the background vocalists, all of whom are Hamilton-area students. One of the vocalists was Nina de Villiers, who was slain the night of August 9, 1991.
030. Did A.H. Clough compose any verses in Canada?
This is a trick question. Arthur Hugh Clough, the Victorian versifier, did not visit any part of Canada on his trip to America. But he crossed the Atlantic in the summer of 1850 aboard the steamer Canada, and in his berth he wrote the lines of one of his moving poems, the one that begins like this: “Green fields of England! wheresoe’er / Across this watery waste we fare, / Your image on our hearts we bear, / Green fields of England, everywhere.” The incident is described by David Williams in Too Quick Despairer: A Life of Arthur Hugh Clough (1969).
031. Who is the Ottawa-born comic writer and actor whose name is most frequently misspelled?
That question sounds like a comedy routine from the typewriter of Dan Aykroyd, the Ottawa-born comic writer and actor who got his start with SCTV’s Second City stage troupe and TV’s Saturday Night Live, later moving on to such feature films as Ghostbusters and Spies Like Us. His name is frequently misspelled by the media and on movie marquees.
032. Who was the second premier of Newfoundland?
Everyone knows that J.R. (Joey) Smallwood was the first premier of Newfoundland. He held office from 1949 to his resignation in 1972. His successor was Frank D. Moores, who held office from 1972 to 1979.
033. Did someone named Robur ever go over Niagara Falls?
This happened only in the pages of Jules Verne’s Master of the World (1904). In the 1914 English-language version of this fantastic adventure novel, Robur the Conqueror is a master criminal who nurtures an insane ambition to rule the world. As captain of the Terror — a combination automobile, boat, submarine, and airplane — he flees two pursuing destroyers on the Niagara River and then sweeps over Niagara Falls and sails away. Verne wrote, “At the moment when the Terror reached the very edge of the Falls, she arose into space, escaping from the thundering cataract in the centre of the lunar bow.”
034. Who created Superman?
Superman, the first of the caped crusaders, was created in 1939 by writer Jerry Siegel (1914–1996) and cartoonist Joe Shuster (1914–1992). They met in Cleveland, where Jerry lived. Joe was a youngster from Toronto, and the Daily Planet, where Lois Lane and Clark Kent worked, is modelled on the Toronto Daily Star, which he had delivered house to house. It is frequently said that Americans claim Superman whereas Canadians claim Clark Kent.
035. What were John Buchan’s favourite Canadian books on angling?
John Buchan, Lord Tweedsmuir, served as governor general of Canada. Born in Scotland, his country home lay in the Border region. He was a confirmed angler and a discerning littérateur. He could tell a good book from a mediocre one, especially when it came to angling. Here is what he wrote about the conjunction of literature and fishing in Memory Hold-the-Door (1940):
The literary classics of angling after all are few in number, for who is there besides [Izaak] Walton? I should select part of the Noctes Ambrosianae, and some of Andrew Lang’s Angling Sketches, but that may be a Borderer’s bias; Lord Grey of Fallodon’s Fly-fishing beyond doubt; and two Canadian books, Stewart Edward White’s The Forest and W.H. Blake’s Brown Waters. But Walton must always head the list.
It is interesting to note that histories of Canada writing and writers yield no information on Stewart Edward White. W.H. Blake’s well-written Brown Waters was published in 1915; its sequel is A Fisherman’s Creed (1923).
036. What was the so-called Champagne Safari?
What has been called the Champagne Safari was the 1,200-mile expedition across the Canadian Rockies in the 1930s led by Charles Bedaux. The millionaire industrialist travelled in style with a fleet of Citroens, 130 horses, and gourmet food and books. He was accompanied by his wife, his mistress, and the cinematographer Floyd Crosby, who kept a record of the “trek.” In 1995, director George Ungar worked the footage into the film The Champagne Safari. The Canadian experience was the highpoint in Bedaux’s life — he was a Nazi sympathizer who was arrested for treason, eventually committing suicide in 1944.
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