"He wrote five [columns] a week and they were all gems." -- Pierre Berton
Vancouver Sun editor and columnist Jack Scott (1915-1980) is not to be confused with left wing journalist and author Jack Scott (1910-2000). They were not related. The son of a Vancouver Province editor, Jack Scott began his 40-year career in newspapers at age 15 as a copy boy for the Vancouver News-Herald, graduating to write a radio guide column. He was elevated from reporter to City Editor in 1940, at which time he began writing his popular Our Town column five days a week. He served in the Intelligence Corps in WW II and edited the Canadian Army newspaper Maple Leaf. Discharged as a Captain in 1945, he resumed his Our Town column with the Vancouver Sun. It continued for 12 more years. Scott became Editorial Director of the Sun for five months in 1958, then left to serve as the newspaper's correspondent in England. After some work for the Toronto Star, he left Ontario for retirement on Saltspring Island--only to resume writing a column for the Victoria Daily Times from 1970 to 1976. He continued to write book reviews and articles until he died on January 22, 1980 after a year-long illness. "He was never superficial," Pierre Berton wrote in his introduction to Jack Scott's book Great Scott! A Collection of the Best Columns by Jack Scott (Sono Nis, 1985), "even when he was being funny." Earlier he had published Vancouver Sun columns as From Our Town (McClelland & Stewart, 1959).
[BCBW 2004] "Journalism"
Vancouver Sun editor and columnist Jack Scott (1915-1980) is not to be confused with left wing journalist and author Jack Scott (1910-2000). They were not related. The son of a Vancouver Province editor, Jack Scott began his 40-year career in newspapers at age 15 as a copy boy for the Vancouver News-Herald, graduating to write a radio guide column. He was elevated from reporter to City Editor in 1940, at which time he began writing his popular Our Town column five days a week. He served in the Intelligence Corps in WW II and edited the Canadian Army newspaper Maple Leaf. Discharged as a Captain in 1945, he resumed his Our Town column with the Vancouver Sun. It continued for 12 more years. Scott became Editorial Director of the Sun for five months in 1958, then left to serve as the newspaper's correspondent in England. After some work for the Toronto Star, he left Ontario for retirement on Saltspring Island--only to resume writing a column for the Victoria Daily Times from 1970 to 1976. He continued to write book reviews and articles until he died on January 22, 1980 after a year-long illness. "He was never superficial," Pierre Berton wrote in his introduction to Jack Scott's book Great Scott! A Collection of the Best Columns by Jack Scott (Sono Nis, 1985), "even when he was being funny." Earlier he had published Vancouver Sun columns as From Our Town (McClelland & Stewart, 1959).
[BCBW 2004] "Journalism"