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Gordon Sinclair
Allan Gordon Sinclair, OC, FRGS (June 3, 1900 – May 17, 1984) was a Canadian journalist, writer, and commentator.
Sinclair was born in the Cabbagetown neighbourhood of Toronto, Ontario, the son of George Alexander and Bessie Goldie (née Eesley) Sinclair. In 1916, before finishing his first year of high school, he dropped out to take a job with the Bank of Nova Scotia. After a few months, he was fired and started working in the administrative office of Eaton's. During World War I, he served as a part-time soldier in a militia unit of the 48th Highlanders of Canada. After being fired from Eaton's, he took a junior bookkeeping job with Gutta Percha and Rubber Manufacturing Company, starting in April 1920. It was there that he met co-worker Gladys Prewett. After an off-and-on relationship, they married on May 8, 1926.
Early in 1922, Sinclair applied for a reporting job at all four Toronto newspapers. The only offer he received was from the Toronto Star, where he started working in February 1922, hired on the same day as Foster Hewitt, who was the son of the Star sports editor.
Sinclair was given routine assignments at the Star for seven years before he received his first byline. His breakthrough was a series of articles written after living among a group of homeless people, whom Sinclair called "Toronto's hobo club" From that point, he rose to become one of the paper's star reporters, spending most of the next decade travelling the world, filing reports from exotic locations. During an Asian tour in 1932, he spent four months in India and, after returning home, wrote his first book, Foot-loose in India. It was published in October 1932 and became a best-seller in Canada, with the first edition selling out on the first day.
Before the end of the year, Sinclair announced that his next trip would be to Southeast Asia. A public farewell was held on January 13, 1933, filling Massey Hall, with the Star estimating that an additional 6,500 people were turned away. His experiences on that trip were collected in a second book, Cannibal Quest, which was a best-seller in Canada and also reached No. 9 in the U.S. Then came a series from Devil's Island, which was also turned into a book, Loose Among the Devils, published in 1935.
Later that year, Sinclair was fired by the Star after failing to get the story on the outbreak of the Second Italo-Abyssinian War in Ethiopia. The Star reported that he was leaving journalism to take a job in advertising. The Star wrote that he had travelled 340,000 miles in 73 countries for the newspaper. At the time, he was working on his fourth book, Khyber Caravan, based on his travels in Afghanistan.
Doubts were frequently raised by readers that Sinclair had actually experienced the incidents he reported. His Khyber series was so widely questioned that the Star assigned another reporter to investigate his claims.
Sinclair's time away from journalism was short-lived. Three months after joining the staff of MacLaren Advertising, he returned to the Star, this time as a sports columnist, hired shortly after the sudden death of sports editor Lou Marsh, who had been one of Canada's best-known sports journalists. According to sportswriter Scott Young, Sinclair's transition to sports was "monumentally unsuccessful."
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Gordon Sinclair
Allan Gordon Sinclair, OC, FRGS (June 3, 1900 – May 17, 1984) was a Canadian journalist, writer, and commentator.
Sinclair was born in the Cabbagetown neighbourhood of Toronto, Ontario, the son of George Alexander and Bessie Goldie (née Eesley) Sinclair. In 1916, before finishing his first year of high school, he dropped out to take a job with the Bank of Nova Scotia. After a few months, he was fired and started working in the administrative office of Eaton's. During World War I, he served as a part-time soldier in a militia unit of the 48th Highlanders of Canada. After being fired from Eaton's, he took a junior bookkeeping job with Gutta Percha and Rubber Manufacturing Company, starting in April 1920. It was there that he met co-worker Gladys Prewett. After an off-and-on relationship, they married on May 8, 1926.
Early in 1922, Sinclair applied for a reporting job at all four Toronto newspapers. The only offer he received was from the Toronto Star, where he started working in February 1922, hired on the same day as Foster Hewitt, who was the son of the Star sports editor.
Sinclair was given routine assignments at the Star for seven years before he received his first byline. His breakthrough was a series of articles written after living among a group of homeless people, whom Sinclair called "Toronto's hobo club" From that point, he rose to become one of the paper's star reporters, spending most of the next decade travelling the world, filing reports from exotic locations. During an Asian tour in 1932, he spent four months in India and, after returning home, wrote his first book, Foot-loose in India. It was published in October 1932 and became a best-seller in Canada, with the first edition selling out on the first day.
Before the end of the year, Sinclair announced that his next trip would be to Southeast Asia. A public farewell was held on January 13, 1933, filling Massey Hall, with the Star estimating that an additional 6,500 people were turned away. His experiences on that trip were collected in a second book, Cannibal Quest, which was a best-seller in Canada and also reached No. 9 in the U.S. Then came a series from Devil's Island, which was also turned into a book, Loose Among the Devils, published in 1935.
Later that year, Sinclair was fired by the Star after failing to get the story on the outbreak of the Second Italo-Abyssinian War in Ethiopia. The Star reported that he was leaving journalism to take a job in advertising. The Star wrote that he had travelled 340,000 miles in 73 countries for the newspaper. At the time, he was working on his fourth book, Khyber Caravan, based on his travels in Afghanistan.
Doubts were frequently raised by readers that Sinclair had actually experienced the incidents he reported. His Khyber series was so widely questioned that the Star assigned another reporter to investigate his claims.
Sinclair's time away from journalism was short-lived. Three months after joining the staff of MacLaren Advertising, he returned to the Star, this time as a sports columnist, hired shortly after the sudden death of sports editor Lou Marsh, who had been one of Canada's best-known sports journalists. According to sportswriter Scott Young, Sinclair's transition to sports was "monumentally unsuccessful."