Knowlton Nash
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| Knowlton Nash | |
| Born | November 18, 1927 Toronto, Ontario |
|---|---|
| Nationality |  Canada |
| Known for | Anchorman for CBC Television news |
Cyril Knowlton Nash, O.C., O.Ont. (born November 18, 1927, Toronto, Ontario), commonly known as Knowlton Nash, is a journalist, author, and former and long-serving senior anchorman of CBC Television's flagship news program, The National.
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[edit] Career
As a 12-year old in 1939, Nash was a newspaper boy selling the Toronto Star and Toronto Telegram at the corner of Bathurst and Eglinton for three cents a copy.[1] Nash began his career working for The Globe and Mail in the 1940s before becoming an editor with British United Press in Canada, moving quickly up from night editor at the Toronto bureau in 1947, to bureau chief at Halifax, Vancouver, and then Toronto. In 1951, he moved to Washington, D.C. where he worked as the Director of Information for the International Federation of Agricultural Producers, reporting on international politics as relates to agriculture. For IFAP he travelled regularly to London, Paris, Rome, New York, occasionally to Africa and Latin America, and represented the federation's interests at the United Nations.[2]
After years reporting on the inner circles of Washington politics to IFAP, he started freelance reporting, for CBC television and radio, the Financial Post, Maclean's, and daily newspapers across Canada. In 1961 he became CBC's Washington correspondent. In Washington Nash covered major historical events, among them the Cuban missile crisis and the assassination of John F. Kennedy. He interviewed five U.S. Presidents, seven Prime Ministers of Canada, four Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom, Che Guevera, and other major figures in his time. He was one of the last reporters to interview New York state U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy before his assassination.[1]
He joined the CBC's management as head of news and information programming in 1968, moving back to Toronto, and became anchor of The National following the departure of Peter Kent in 1978. During his tenure, the program expanded from 15 minutes to the first segment of an hourlong news package with The National being followed by The Journal, which featured interviews and documentaries.
In 1988, Nash offered to retire from his duties at The National in order to keep Peter Mansbridge from accepting an offer to host the morning news at the American network CBS. Nash left his position as CBC News' senior anchor and chief correspondent in 1988, yet remains active in Canadian journalism circles. He hosted various programs on CBC Newsworld in the 1990s, and from 1990 to 2004 was host of the CBC's educational series "News in Review". Knowlton Nash officially retired from the CBC on November 28, 1992 - his last official duty was anchoring The National'.[1]
As of 2008, Nash lives in Toronto with his wife, former CBC personality Lorraine Thomson, and his family.
[edit] Honours
Nash was made an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1989, and a Member of the Order of Ontario in 1998. He received the President's Award of the Radio and Television News Directors' Association in 1990, the John Drainie Award "for distinguished contributions to broadcasting" in 1995, and was inducted to the Canadian News Hall of Fame in 1996. He holds Honourary J.D. degrees from the University of Toronto (1993), Brock University (1995), the University of Regina, (1996), and Loyalist College (1997). In 1992 he was the Max Bell Professor at the University of Regina School of Journalism.
On June 22, 2006, Nash accepted a lifetime achievement award from the Canadian Journalism Foundation.[3] He prepared a speech which was read by his wife (Nash suffers from Parkinson's Disease[1]), which included harsh words for the CBC, due to its planned simulcast of American network ABC's The One: Making a Music Star, which bumped The National back by one hour in Ontario and Quebec on Tuesday nights. The program flopped and was cancelled after two weeks.
[edit] References
[edit] Bibliography
- History on the Run: The Trenchcoat Memoirs of a Foreign Correspondent (McClelland and Stewart, 1984), ISBN 0-7710-6700-3
- Times to Remember: A Canadian Photo Album (Key Porter Books, 1986), ISBN 1-55013-005-6
- Prime Time at Ten: Behind-the-Camera Battles of Canadian TV Journalism (McClelland and Stewart, 1987)), ISBN 0-7710-6703-8
- Kennedy and Diefenbaker: Fear and Loathing across the Undefended Border (McClelland and Stewart, 1990), ISBN 0-7710-6705-4
- Visions of Canada: Searching for Our Future (McClelland and Stewart, 1991), ISBN 0-7710-6708-9
- The Microphone Wars: A History of Triumph and Betrayal at the CBC (McClelland and Stewart, 1994), ISBN 0-7710-6712-7
- Cue the Elephant!: Backstage Tales at the CBC (McClelland and Stewart, 1996), ISBN 0-7710-6734-8
- Trivia Pursuit: How Showbiz Values are Corrupting the News (McClelland and Stewart, 1998), ISBN 0-7710-6752-6
- Swashbucklers: The Story of Canada's Battling Broadcasters (McClelland and Stewart, 2001), ISBN 0-7710-6774-7
