Local Author Keeps Municipal Histories Alive and Vibrant: Recollections of high school history classes might make you yawn, but Canadian history, and the histories of Etobicoke and Mississauga in particular, contain some fascinating stories. Local historian, author and politician Dave Cook loves to share them.
Dave Cook's own history is quite fascinating too. His family lived near the Junction area of Toronto in the 1940s before they moved to establish a farm on the 6 Line, south of the Village of Malton. His family's homestead was expropriated by the Federal Government in 1956 as part of the Toronto Airport expansion. They then moved to Applewood Acres in south Mississauga, an area replete with history and Canada's largest housing project for many years.
Dave's varied career has included work in radio as an on-air news announcer, news reporting for The Mississauga News and The Etobicoke Gazette, and several terms of service as a Councillor for the City of Mississauga. He as long-standing interests in motorsports and was general manager of Mosport International Speedway.
Equally long-standing is his interest in community history which led him to author and publish 4 books:
Dave shared several stories with us from the Fading History series:
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| The Dixie Mall Music Fair | Olga Romanov | Gordon Sinclair with Pierre Trudeau | The Avro Arrow Airplane |
The Music Fair at the Dixie Mall was held under a tent with seating for up to 2000 people and ran from 1958 - 1960. Broadway-style productions, such as Cole Porter’s Silk Stockings with Rae Allen, were presented. The productions featured famous talent from the day including actors and performers like James Garner, Eve Arden and Roddy McDowell. | Known as Russia's Last Grand Duchess, Olga Alexandrovna Romanov (1882 - 1960) resided with her family in exile in Canada from 1948, settling in Cooksville in 1952. As a cousin of Queen Elizabeth, she might have been expected to live in grandeur, but instead resided in relative obscurity. | Gordan Sinclair was a highly respected journalist and radio commentator and was a well-known figure at CFRB radio from 1943 until his death in 1984. Sinclair became an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1979, and was inducted into the Etobicoke Hall of Fame in 1984. At the time of his death in May 1984, he was still doing 14 broadcasts a week for CFRB and also appearing on the long-running television program Front Page Challenge. | Initially built in 1957, the technological wonder that was the Avro Arrow remains the 5th best designed military aircraft today, says Dave Cook. Many myths abound about the Arrow and the political controversies leading to the end of the project. Dave's story of the Avro Arrow debunks these in a fascinating way. |