Eric Nicol

Eric Nicol
Eric Patrick Nicol (December 28, 1919 – February 2, 2011) was a Canadian writer, best known as a longtime humour columnist for the Vancouver, British Columbia newspaper The Province. He also published over 40 books, both original works and compilations of his humour columns, and won the Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour three times.
Early life
Nicol was born on December 28, 1919, in Kingston, Ontario. In 1921 his family relocated to British Columbia. Nicol attended Lord Byng Secondary School and the University of British Columbia, where he studied French. In 1941, he received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the university.
Following military service in the Second World War, Nicol returned to the University of British Columbia and earned a Master of Arts degree. He then studied at the Sorbonne in France, and lived in London, England for a few years writing comedy for the BBC.
In 1951 he returned to Vancouver, where for several decades he served as a regular columnist for city's newspaper The Province. He also wrote numerous radio comedy plays for CBC Radio.
Nicol lived in Vancouver until his death on February 2, 2011. He was married to writer Mary Razzell, and had three children with his first wife, Myrl Nicol.
Awards and recognition
1951: winner, Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour The Roving I
1956: winner, Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour Shall We Join the Ladies?
1958: winner, Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour Girdle Me a Globe
1999: finalist, Hubert Evans Non-Fiction Prize, Anything for a Laugh: Memoirs
2000: appointed Member of the Order of Canada
Bibliography
1947: Sense and Nonsense (Ryerson)
1950: The Roving I (Ryerson)
1953: Twice Over Lightly, illustrator James Simpkins (Ryerson)
1955: Shall We Join the Ladies?, illustrator James Simpkins (Ryerson)
1957: Girdle Me a Globe, illustrator James Simpkins (Ryerson)
1959: In Darkest Domestica, illustrator James Simpkins (Ryerson)
1961: with Peter Whalley, Say, Uncle: A Completely Uncalled-for History of the U.S. (Harper)
1962: compilation, A Herd of Yaks: The Best of Eric Nicol (Ryerson)
1963: with Peter Whalley, Russia, Anyone?: A Completely Uncalled-for History of the USSR (Harper and Row)
1963: Twice Over Lightly (Ryerson)
1964: Space Age Go Home! (Ryerson)
1965: (An Uninhibited) History of Canada, illustrator Peter Whalley (Musson)
1968 reissue (Musson)
1966: with Peter Whalley, 100 Years of What? (Ryerson)
1968: A Scar is Born (Ryerson)
1970: Vancouver (Doubleday)
1978 reissue: Vancouver (Doubleday)
1971: Don't Move: Renovate Your House and Make Social Contacts (McClelland)
1972: The Clam Made a Face (Firebrand)
1972: compilation edited by Alan Walker, Still a Nicol: the Best of Eric Nicol (McGraw-Hill Ryerson)
1973: Beware the Quickly Who (Playwrights Co-op)
1973: One Man's Media and How to Write for Them (Holt, Rinehart and Winston)
1974: Letters to my Son, illustrator Roy Peterson (Macmillan)
1975: with Peter Whalley, There's a Lot of it Going Around (Doubleday)
1975: Three Plays: Like Father Like Fun, Pillar of Sand, The Fourth Monkey (Talonbooks)
1977: with Peter Whalley, Canada, Cancelled Because of Lack of Interest (Hurtig)
1978: with Dave More, The Joy of Hockey (Hurtig)
1980: with Dave More, The Joy of Football (Hurtig)
1982: with Dave More, Golf, the Agony and the Ecstasy (Hurtig)
1983: Canadide: A Patriotic Satire (Macmillan)
1984: with Dave More, Tennis It Serves You Right (Hurtig)
1985: How to-- ! : How to be Smarter, Slimmer, Happier, Richer, Sexier—and so Successful that You'll Never Need Another How-To Book (Macmillan)
1986: with Dave More, The U.S. or Us: What's the Difference, eh? (Hurtig)
1989: Dickens of the Mounted: The Astounding Lost-Long Letters of Inspector F. Dickens, NWMP, 1874–1886 (McClelland and Stewart)
1992: Back Talk: A Book for Bad Back Sufferers and Those Who Love (Put Up With) Them, illustrator Graham Pilsworth (McClelland and Stewart)
1996: Skiing is Believing (Johnson Gorman)
1998: Anything for a Laugh: Memoirs, autobiography (Harbour)
1999: When Nature Calls: Life at a Gulf Island Cottage (Harbour)
2001: The Casanova Sexicon: A Manual for Liberated Men (Ronsdale)
2003: with Peter Whalley, Canadian Politics Unplugged (Dundurn Press)
2004: Old Is In: A Guide for Aging Boomers (Dundurn Press)
2010: Script Tease - A Wordsmith's Waxings on Life and Writing (Dundurn Press)
References
External links
Harbour Publishing: Eric Nicol
BC Book World: Eric Nicol
1919 births
2011 deaths
University of Paris alumni
20th-century Canadian dramatists and playwrights
Members of the Order of Canada
University of British Columbia alumni
Writers from Kingston, Ontario
Writers from Vancouver
Stephen Leacock Award winners
Canadian male dramatists and playwrights
20th-century Canadian male writers