Peter Worthington
Encyclopedia
Peter Worthington is a Canadian
journalist. A foreign correspondent
with the Toronto Telegram
newspaper from 1956, Worthington was an eyewitness to the murder of Lee Harvey Oswald
in 1963, and can be seen in photographs of the event. He remained with the Telegram until it folded in 1971. Worthington was the founding editor of the Toronto Sun
newspaper, which was created by former Telegram employees upon that newspaper's demise.
of both the Second World War
and the Korean War
. He joined the Royal Canadian Navy
Volunteer Reserve (RCNVR) in 1944 and served as an air gunner in the Fleet Air Arm until his discharge in 1946 with the rank of Sub-Lieutenant
.
From there he went to the University of British Columbia
. Worthington left the university before completing his degree and joined Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry
as a Lieutenant
in 1950.
In the Korean War he was a platoon commander, then battalion intelligence officer in the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry
(PPCLI) in Korea
, and ended the war with the U.S. Air Force, 6147 Mosquito Squadron, directing air strikes at enemy targets.
After his discharge, he returned to the University of British Columbia. He received a B.A.
from the University of British Columbia
and a bachelor's in journalism at Carleton University
.http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0008720.
newspaper. One of early assignments was to cover the Canadian troops stationed in the Gaza Strip
. Canadian forces were sent under the directions of the United Nations
. From that beginning, he would go on to interview King Hussein of Jordan in 1958, Thomas Anthony Dooley III in 1959, and Albert Schweitzer
in 1960.
In April 1961, Worthington was in Algiers, and on May 15, 1961 Worthington was in Luanda, Angola, covering the Portuguese Colonial War
. In 1962 he was in Netherlands New Guinea, covering the invasion of the country by Indonesia. He was also in the North East frontier of India and China when Chinese forces invaded in that same year.
On assignment for the Telegram, Worthington was in Dallas on November 25, 1963, where he was an eyewitness to the killing of Lee Harvey Oswald
. He covered the trial of Jack Ruby
in February 1964.
Starting in January 1965, Worthington was posted in Moscow. In 1967 he was assigned to Cairo
, where he covered the Six-Day War
. On August 21, 1968 he was in Prague
, Czechoslovakia
.
Worthington covered the Nigerian Civil War of 1967 to 1970 in a series of reports that resulted in his second of four National Newspaper Awards and a National Newspaper Citation.
newspaper), the first edition appearing Monday, Nov. 1, 1971, a day after the last edition of the Telegram. Worthington was the new paper's founding editor-in-chief.
A conservative
, Worthington led the brash new tabloid throughout the 1970s as it campaigned against the government of Pierre Trudeau
. In 1978 he became the first Canadian journalist to be charged under the Official Secrets Act for a column in the Sun identifying 16 Canadians who had been recruited by the KGB into treasonous acts on behalf of the Soviet Union. After a year of preliminary hearings, the case was thrown out of court.
Following the 1981 police raid of gay bathhouses in Toronto
, Worthington, in an editorial and again in an interview with CBC Radio's Sunday Morning threatened to publish the name of future found-ins.
for a by-election
in Toronto's Broadview—Greenwood
riding, but was defeated in a hotly-contested campaign in which the six candidates sold thousands of party memberships.
Worthington lost the nomination to Bill Fatsis, who was supported by the riding's large Greek-Canadian population. Worthington then ran as an independent candidate, and placed a strong second to the winner, New Democrat
Lynn McDonald
. He succeeded in becoming the official Progressive Conservative candidate for the riding in the 1984 general election
, but was again defeated by McDonald.
for a year, when that paper was relaunched as a daily, and returned to the Toronto Sun and the Sun chain as a columnist. He continues today as a columnist for Sun Media's parent, QMI.
and animal rights
and long-time involvement with the Toronto Humane Society
.
about the suspected political sympathies of a number of his friends, including June Callwood
. Worthington filed a complaint against the Ottawa Citizen with the Ontario Press Council and won a categorical apology for its error.
In 1996 Worthington was inducted into the Canadian News Hall of Fame.
, wife of writer and political advisor David Frum
.
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
journalist. A foreign correspondent
Foreign correspondent
Foreign Correspondent may refer to:*Foreign correspondent *Foreign Correspondent , an Alfred Hitchcock film*Foreign Correspondent , an Australian current affairs programme...
with the Toronto Telegram
Toronto Telegram
The Toronto Evening Telegram was a conservative, broadsheet afternoon newspaper published in Toronto from 1876 to 1971. It had a reputation for supporting the Conservative Party at both the federal and provincial level. The paper competed with the liberal Toronto Star...
newspaper from 1956, Worthington was an eyewitness to the murder of Lee Harvey Oswald
Lee Harvey Oswald
Lee Harvey Oswald was, according to four government investigations,These were investigations by: the Federal Bureau of Investigation , the Warren Commission , the House Select Committee on Assassinations , and the Dallas Police Department. the sniper who assassinated John F...
in 1963, and can be seen in photographs of the event. He remained with the Telegram until it folded in 1971. Worthington was the founding editor of the Toronto Sun
Toronto Sun
The Toronto Sun is an English-language daily tabloid newspaper published in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is known for its daily Sunshine Girl feature and for what it sees as a populist conservative editorial stance.-History:...
newspaper, which was created by former Telegram employees upon that newspaper's demise.
Early life
The son of Major-General F. F. Worthington, Peter Worthington is a veteranVeteran
A veteran is a person who has had long service or experience in a particular occupation or field; " A veteran of ..."...
of both the Second World War
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
and the Korean War
Korean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
. He joined the Royal Canadian Navy
Royal Canadian Navy
The history of the Royal Canadian Navy goes back to 1910, when the naval force was created as the Naval Service of Canada and renamed a year later by King George V. The Royal Canadian Navy is one of the three environmental commands of the Canadian Forces...
Volunteer Reserve (RCNVR) in 1944 and served as an air gunner in the Fleet Air Arm until his discharge in 1946 with the rank of Sub-Lieutenant
Sub-Lieutenant
Sub-lieutenant is a military rank. It is normally a junior officer rank.In many navies, a sub-lieutenant is a naval commissioned or subordinate officer, ranking below a lieutenant. In the Royal Navy the rank of sub-lieutenant is equivalent to the rank of lieutenant in the British Army and of...
.
From there he went to the University of British Columbia
University of British Columbia
The University of British Columbia is a public research university. UBC’s two main campuses are situated in Vancouver and in Kelowna in the Okanagan Valley...
. Worthington left the university before completing his degree and joined Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry
Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry
Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry is one of the three regular force infantry regiments of the Canadian Army. The regiment is composed of four battalions including a primary reserve battalion, for a total of 2,000 soldiers...
as a Lieutenant
Lieutenant
A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...
in 1950.
In the Korean War he was a platoon commander, then battalion intelligence officer in the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry
Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry
Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry is one of the three regular force infantry regiments of the Canadian Army. The regiment is composed of four battalions including a primary reserve battalion, for a total of 2,000 soldiers...
(PPCLI) in Korea
Korea
Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...
, and ended the war with the U.S. Air Force, 6147 Mosquito Squadron, directing air strikes at enemy targets.
After his discharge, he returned to the University of British Columbia. He received a B.A.
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
from the University of British Columbia
University of British Columbia
The University of British Columbia is a public research university. UBC’s two main campuses are situated in Vancouver and in Kelowna in the Okanagan Valley...
and a bachelor's in journalism at Carleton University
Carleton University
Carleton University is a comprehensive university located in the capital of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario. The enabling legislation is The Carleton University Act, 1952, S.O. 1952. Founded as a small college in 1942, Carleton now offers over 65 programs in a diverse range of disciplines. Carleton has...
.http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0008720.
Toronto Telegram
In 1956 he joined the staff at the Toronto TelegramToronto Telegram
The Toronto Evening Telegram was a conservative, broadsheet afternoon newspaper published in Toronto from 1876 to 1971. It had a reputation for supporting the Conservative Party at both the federal and provincial level. The paper competed with the liberal Toronto Star...
newspaper. One of early assignments was to cover the Canadian troops stationed in the Gaza Strip
Gaza Strip
thumb|Gaza city skylineThe Gaza Strip lies on the Eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The Strip borders Egypt on the southwest and Israel on the south, east and north. It is about long, and between 6 and 12 kilometres wide, with a total area of...
. Canadian forces were sent under the directions of the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
. From that beginning, he would go on to interview King Hussein of Jordan in 1958, Thomas Anthony Dooley III in 1959, and Albert Schweitzer
Albert Schweitzer
Albert Schweitzer OM was a German theologian, organist, philosopher, physician, and medical missionary. He was born in Kaysersberg in the province of Alsace-Lorraine, at that time part of the German Empire...
in 1960.
In April 1961, Worthington was in Algiers, and on May 15, 1961 Worthington was in Luanda, Angola, covering the Portuguese Colonial War
Portuguese Colonial War
The Portuguese Colonial War , also known in Portugal as the Overseas War or in the former colonies as the War of liberation , was fought between Portugal's military and the emerging nationalist movements in Portugal's African colonies between 1961 and 1974, when the Portuguese regime was...
. In 1962 he was in Netherlands New Guinea, covering the invasion of the country by Indonesia. He was also in the North East frontier of India and China when Chinese forces invaded in that same year.
On assignment for the Telegram, Worthington was in Dallas on November 25, 1963, where he was an eyewitness to the killing of Lee Harvey Oswald
Lee Harvey Oswald
Lee Harvey Oswald was, according to four government investigations,These were investigations by: the Federal Bureau of Investigation , the Warren Commission , the House Select Committee on Assassinations , and the Dallas Police Department. the sniper who assassinated John F...
. He covered the trial of Jack Ruby
Jack Ruby
Jacob Leon Rubenstein , who legally changed his name to Jack Leon Ruby in 1947, was convicted of the November 24, 1963 murder of Lee Harvey Oswald, the alleged assassin of President John F. Kennedy. Ruby, who was originally from Chicago, Illinois, was then a nightclub operator in Dallas, Texas...
in February 1964.
Starting in January 1965, Worthington was posted in Moscow. In 1967 he was assigned to Cairo
Cairo
Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
, where he covered the Six-Day War
Six-Day War
The Six-Day War , also known as the June War, 1967 Arab-Israeli War, or Third Arab-Israeli War, was fought between June 5 and 10, 1967, by Israel and the neighboring states of Egypt , Jordan, and Syria...
. On August 21, 1968 he was in Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
, Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
.
Worthington covered the Nigerian Civil War of 1967 to 1970 in a series of reports that resulted in his second of four National Newspaper Awards and a National Newspaper Citation.
Editor of the Toronto Sun
On Saturday September 18, 1971 the Telegram announced it was closing. Joining former employees of the Telegram, a new tabloid was started (the Toronto SunToronto Sun
The Toronto Sun is an English-language daily tabloid newspaper published in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is known for its daily Sunshine Girl feature and for what it sees as a populist conservative editorial stance.-History:...
newspaper), the first edition appearing Monday, Nov. 1, 1971, a day after the last edition of the Telegram. Worthington was the new paper's founding editor-in-chief.
A conservative
Conservatism
Conservatism is a political and social philosophy that promotes the maintenance of traditional institutions and supports, at the most, minimal and gradual change in society. Some conservatives seek to preserve things as they are, emphasizing stability and continuity, while others oppose modernism...
, Worthington led the brash new tabloid throughout the 1970s as it campaigned against the government of Pierre Trudeau
Pierre Trudeau
Joseph Philippe Pierre Yves Elliott Trudeau, , usually known as Pierre Trudeau or Pierre Elliott Trudeau, was the 15th Prime Minister of Canada from April 20, 1968 to June 4, 1979, and again from March 3, 1980 to June 30, 1984.Trudeau began his political career campaigning for socialist ideals,...
. In 1978 he became the first Canadian journalist to be charged under the Official Secrets Act for a column in the Sun identifying 16 Canadians who had been recruited by the KGB into treasonous acts on behalf of the Soviet Union. After a year of preliminary hearings, the case was thrown out of court.
Following the 1981 police raid of gay bathhouses in Toronto
1981 Toronto bathhouse raids
Operation Soap was a raid by the Metropolitan Toronto Police against four gay bathhouses in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, which took place on February 5, 1981...
, Worthington, in an editorial and again in an interview with CBC Radio's Sunday Morning threatened to publish the name of future found-ins.
Political career
Worthington stepped down as editor of the Toronto Sun in order to enter politics in 1982. He sought the nomination of the Progressive Conservative PartyProgressive Conservative Party of Canada
The Progressive Conservative Party of Canada was a Canadian political party with a centre-right stance on economic issues and, after the 1970s, a centrist stance on social issues....
for a by-election
By-election
A by-election is an election held to fill a political office that has become vacant between regularly scheduled elections....
in Toronto's Broadview—Greenwood
Toronto—Danforth
Toronto—Danforth is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1979. It lies to the east of Downtown Toronto....
riding, but was defeated in a hotly-contested campaign in which the six candidates sold thousands of party memberships.
Worthington lost the nomination to Bill Fatsis, who was supported by the riding's large Greek-Canadian population. Worthington then ran as an independent candidate, and placed a strong second to the winner, New Democrat
New Democratic Party
The New Democratic Party , commonly referred to as the NDP, is a federal social-democratic political party in Canada. The interim leader of the NDP is Nycole Turmel who was appointed to the position due to the illness of Jack Layton, who died on August 22, 2011. The provincial wings of the NDP in...
Lynn McDonald
Lynn McDonald
Lynn McDonald, PhD is a university professor, anti-tobacco activist and former member of the Canadian House of Commons. She is a former president of the National Action Committee on the Status of Women and was the New Democratic Party Member of Parliament for Broadview—Greenwood from 1982 until...
. He succeeded in becoming the official Progressive Conservative candidate for the riding in the 1984 general election
Canadian federal election, 1984
The Canadian federal election of 1984 was held on September 4 of that year to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 33rd Parliament of Canada...
, but was again defeated by McDonald.
Return to the Sun
After resigning as Toronto Sun editor and taking a leave of absence for his political campaigns, Worthington returned as a columnist for the Toronto Sun and its sister newspapers. In 1989, he was fired by publisher Doug Creighton after being quoted in a rival newspaper saying that the Sun was not a serious newspaper. He was re-hired soon after to be founding editor of the Ottawa SunOttawa Sun
The Ottawa Sun is a daily tabloid newspaper in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It is published by Sun Media. It was first published in the early 1980s as the Ottawa Sunday Herald, until it was acquired by Toronto Sun Publishing Corporation in 1988....
for a year, when that paper was relaunched as a daily, and returned to the Toronto Sun and the Sun chain as a columnist. He continues today as a columnist for Sun Media's parent, QMI.
Political views
Worthington is a committed conservative and anti-Communist. Less well known is his support for animal welfareAnimal welfare
Animal welfare is the physical and psychological well-being of animals.The term animal welfare can also mean human concern for animal welfare or a position in a debate on animal ethics and animal rights...
and animal rights
Animal rights
Animal rights, also known as animal liberation, is the idea that the most basic interests of non-human animals should be afforded the same consideration as the similar interests of human beings...
and long-time involvement with the Toronto Humane Society
Toronto Humane Society
The Toronto Humane Society is a Toronto charity that operates animal shelters and animal rescue operations. It was founded by crusading journalist John J. Kelso after he added the comment “Why don't we have a society for the prevention of cruelty?” to a November 1886 letter in the Toronto World...
.
Alleged FBI informant
Worthington was accused by the Ottawa Citizen of being an informant for the American Federal Bureau of InvestigationFederal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
about the suspected political sympathies of a number of his friends, including June Callwood
June Callwood
June Rose Callwood, was a Canadian journalist, author and social activist. She was born in Chatham, Ontario and grew up in nearby Belle River.-Early life and career:...
. Worthington filed a complaint against the Ottawa Citizen with the Ontario Press Council and won a categorical apology for its error.
In 1996 Worthington was inducted into the Canadian News Hall of Fame.
Family
Worthington is married to Yvonne Crittenden as is stepfather of conservative writer Danielle CrittendenDanielle Crittenden
Danielle Ann Crittenden Frum, who writes under the name Danielle Crittenden , is a Canadian author and journalist....
, wife of writer and political advisor David Frum
David Frum
David J. Frum is a Canadian American journalist active in both the United States and Canadian political arenas. A former economic speechwriter for President George W. Bush, he is also the author of the first "insider" book about the Bush presidency...
.
External links
- http://archives.cbc.ca/IDC-1-69-599-3233/life_society/gay_lesbian/clip9Worthington reporting on the 1981 Toronto bathhouse raids1981 Toronto bathhouse raidsOperation Soap was a raid by the Metropolitan Toronto Police against four gay bathhouses in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, which took place on February 5, 1981...
]