A married Alberta premier, John Brownlee, lost his job after enticing a junior government clerk to have sex with him. He was fifty, she was twenty. After Canada's Supreme Court endorsed the trial jury's guilty verdict, Brownlee took the case to the British Privy Council, then the court of last resort for Canadians. He lost again. The courts awarded his accuser, Vivian MacMillan, $10,000 plus costs, and Brownlee's United Farmers party never won another election.That's one of the stories Brian Brennan tells in this collection of true tales about the rogues, rebels, eccentrics and other colourful characters who have left their mark on Alberta over the years. Others featured individuals include:
Owen "Blue Blazer" Hart, a professional wrestler killed in a freak accident after being lowered by cable from an arena ceiling.
Dorothy Joudrie, a socialite charged with attempted murder after shooting her husband six times with a handgun.
Guy Weadick, a cowboy showman who helped found the world-famous Calgary Stampede.
Pearl Miller, the most notorious brothel keeper in Calgary history.
Harold "Goofy" McMasters, an inept professional heavyweight boxer who never won a bout.
Florence Lassandro, the only woman ever hanged in Alberta, after she murdered a provincial policeman.
Scoundrels and Scallywags has been a constant best-seller since first published in 2002. Add it to your library today, and dip into it frequently for amusement and enlightenment.
"Here is Alberta history in bite-sized, easily digested portions, a lively and entertaining romp through the years." -Calgary Herald
Author Biography:
Brian Brennan is an award-winning and best-selling author of 12 critically acclaimed narrative non-fiction books about the colourful personalities of Western Canada's past. One of his titles, Romancing the Rockies, won him the inaugural Dave Greber Freelance Writers Award and a nomination for the Canadian Rockies Award. Another title, Scoundrels and Scallywags, topped the Canadian best-seller charts for more than 18 months and was short-listed for the prestigious Grant MacEwan Author's Award. His other books include his memoirs, Leaving Dublin: Writing My Way from Ireland to Canada; the first biography of renowned Canadian historian James H. Gray; and the first biography of the celebrated 19th century Irish folk poet Mary O'Leary, which was nominated for the Irish Times Literary Prize. A former staff writer with the Calgary Herald, Brian has written freelance articles and columns for magazines and newspapers across the United States and Canada, including the New York Times, Globe and Mail and Toronto Star. Born and educated in Dublin, Ireland, Brian immigrated to Canada in 1966 and settled in Calgary in 1974. Over the course of his varied career he has worked as a golf caddy, lounge waiter, customs officer, nightclub pianist, church organist, radio news announcer, and a featured storyteller on CBC Radio's Daybreak Alberta - a popular program heard across the province. As a newspaper and magazine journalist, Brian has written on a variety of topics including politics, business, theatre, contemporary music, medicine, education, and travel. He has served on the national boards of The Writers' Union of Canada, the Canadian Association of Journalists and the Canadian Theatre Critics Association. Brian has won national and regional awards in Canada for his journalism. They include two Western Magazine Awards (Gold Award Alberta, Science and Technology Award), for stories on regeneration of animal brain cells, and the national Hollobon Award for medical writing in Canada, which he won for a magazine feature story on open-heart surgery. His most recent awards include a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Petroleum HIstory Society of Canada and the Features Writing Award (runner-up) from the Professional Writers Association of Canada.
