Monday, February 07, 2011

Eric Nicol Dies at 91

Canadian humor columnist and award-winning author, Eric Nicol (Script Tease, Old is In), died last Wednesday in Vancouver, Canada. He was 91.

Born in Kingston, Ontario, in 1919, his family relocated to British Columbia when Nicol was very young. Following military service during WWII, Nicol earned a Masters degree from the University of British Columbia. He later studied at the Sorbonne, then wrote comedy for the BBC for several years.

When he returned to Vancouver in the early 1950s he became a regular and well-loved columnist for The Vancouver Province, a position he continued with until 1986.

Nicol was considered by many to be the grand old man of Canadian humor. He was the author of 36 books, radio plays, stage plays and television musicals and was a three time winner of the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour. He received the Order of Canada, the UBC Alumni Merit Award, and the BC Gas Lifetime Achievement Award.

Nicol is survived by his wife, the writer Mary Razzell, and the three children he had with his first wife, Myrl Nicol.

Nicol’s old paper remembers the writer here. Jack Knox of The Victoria Times Colonist paints an affectionate and personal portrait of the writer here.

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1 Comments:

Blogger Hubert O'Hearn said...

He was one of my absolute favourites as a child. I remember reading his 'History of Canada' maybe 25 times when I was around 10, and tears of laughter rolled down my face every time. In a lot of ways, I learned the subversive effects of political humour from his work. A truly under-appreciated Canadian writer.

Hubert O'Hearn
By the Book Reviews: http://tinyurl.com/2u6wr3b

Monday, February 7, 2011 at 2:05:00 PM PST  

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