Allan Fotheringham

Allan Fotheringham (born August 31, 1932 in Hearne, Saskatchewan) is a Canadian newspaper and magazine journalist. He is widely known by the nickname Dr. Foth and styles himself as, "Always controversial... never at a loss for words" and also as "the Great Gatheringfroth".

Contents

Life

Fotheringham attended Chilliwack Secondary School, where he was active in student leadership. Upon graduation he studied English and Political Science at the University of British Columbia and worked at a variety of media outlets during his career. He was best known as a columnist, originally at the The Ubyssey, a still-operating student newspaper noted for its "biting" reporters and editors. He was hired straight out of university by the Vancouver Sun during the heady times of the late '60s, the final days of the old Bennett Socreds provincially and the advent of Pierre Trudeau federally. Fotheringham's columns and commentaries brought him national attention as well as wider syndication and a broader subject base. He was one of the leading specialists in explaining the twisted world of British Columbia politics during his time at the Sun.[1]

He later wrote for Maclean's, where his column appeared on the back page of the magazine for 27 years. Fotheringham's column was so widely read and so influential that he is said to have made Maclean's "the magazine people read from back to front". Some of his more memorable political nicknames include "the brogue that walks and talks like a man" (for Jack Webster) and its offspring, "the jaw that walks and talks like a man" (for Brian Mulroney). He is credited with coining the terms Natural Governing Party for the federal Liberals, and the Holy Mother Corporation for the CBC in the course of writing his column.

In 2001, Maclean's underwent an editorial revamp, and Fotheringham's column was moved to an inside page to make room for a guest column. Soon afterward, Fotheringham left Maclean's, and became a columnist for The Globe and Mail. He had a national syndicated column that is in 20 newspapers but retired from regular contributions in 2007 due to illness. He still writes for the Globe and also for the National Post and a Calgary magazine called The Roughneck. He has also written material for Fifty Plus magazine, Readers Digest and Nuvo magazines.

For 10 years, Fotheringham was a regular panelist in the latter years of the CBC Television program Front Page Challenge, replacing the deceased Gordon Sinclair.

Fotheringham has honorary degrees from the University of New Brunswick and the University of Saskatchewan.

Fotheringhamisms

Affectionately known as "Foth" as well as "Dr. Foth", he dubbed himself "the Great Gatheringfroth" and coined some well-known terms in BC political history:

Fotheringham was of a generation and an era in journalism in British Columbia that, in retrospect, have both historical importance and a luminary air and all of whom were part of Fotheringham's regular social and professional milieu, and all of whom he knew:

Books by Allan Fotheringham

Quotes by Allan Fotheringham

"In the Maritimes, politics is a disease, in Quebec a religion, in Ontario a business, on the Prairies a protest and in British Columbia - entertainment." - Malice in Blunderland (1982)

"The Tories are like cream --- rich, thick and full of clots." - LOOK MA...NO HANDS (1983)

Awards

See also

References

  1. ^ "Biography". http://www.drfoth.com/bio.htm. Retrieved 22 November 2010. 
  2. ^ "THE LIMELIGHT The Beatle menace: how to preserve public safety when four kids from Liverpool visit Canada - by Allan Fotheringham, Maclean's magazine, September 19, 1964". http://beatles.ncf.ca/allan_fotheringham_p1.html. Retrieved 24 August 2011. 

External links