Greg Clark (journalist)
| Greg Clark | |
|---|---|
Greg Clark, circa 1935
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| Born |
Gregory Clark 25 September 1892 Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
| Died | 3 February 1977 (aged 84) Toronto, Ontario |
| Occupation | newspaperman, soldier, outdoorsman, humourist |
| Awards |
Order of Canada Order of the British Empire |
Gregory (Greg) Clark, OC OBE MC (25 September 1892 – 3 February 1977) was a Canadian war veteran, journalist, and humourist.
In 1967, he was made one of the initial Officers of the Order of Canada "for the humour which he has brought to his profession as a newspaper writer and radio commentator".
Major Gregory Clark is buried in Mount Pleasant Cemetery.
Clark was born and raised in Toronto, and attended high school at Harbord Collegiate Institute. After twice failing his first year studies at the University of Toronto, in 1911 Clark joined the editorial staff of The Toronto Star, where his father Joseph worked as an editor. Clark would work at the Star for the next 36 years, interrupted only by military service in World War I, from 1916 through 1918.
Surviving three years in the trenches of World War I, Clark returned to Canada in 1918 a major with the Canadian Mounted Rifles with the Military Cross for conspicuous gallantry at Vimy Ridge. After the Armistice, Clark returned to his job as a newspaper reporter.
In the 1920s and 1930s, Clark became one of the Toronto Star's best known reporters and columnists. He worked alongside a young Ernest Hemingway in the Star newsroom. Although Clark was initially suspicious of the "tall young squirt" who showed up in his office in 1920, the two became friends. Clark urged Hemingway to give up on trying to write fiction and concentrate his efforts on journalism "where his true talent -- and his brilliant future -- lay". Clark later cheerfully admitted that Hemingway made the right move by completely ignoring his advice.
As a reporter, Clark covered (among many other stories) the Great Haileybury Fire of 1922, the Lindbergh Kidnap Trial in 1935, and the coronation of King George VI and the royal couple's 1939 tour of Canada. However, perhaps Clark's most celebrated piece of reportage the surrounded his coverage of Moose River Mine Disaster of 1936. After having arrived in Nova Scotia to cover the story, Clark continued to stay with the rescue crew after many other reporters had left, as they had given up hope that the trapped miners were still alive. Clark was therefore on hand when the first faint taps of the trapped miners were heard, and was able to report the scoop first-hand.
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