Fonds MsC-157 - Allan Fotheringham fonds

Allan Fotheringham worked as a journalist for over six decades. He started his career as a columnist at the The Ubyssey, a student newspaper, then was hired by the Vancouver Sun, where he covered the final days of the BC Social Credit Party and the ascendance of Pierre Trudeau. His widely-read and influential Maclean's column was on the back page for 27 years; it is where memorable political nicknames like "the brogue that walks and talks like a man" (for Jack Webster) and its offspring, "the jaw that walks and talks like a man" (for Brian Mulroney), first appeared. Fotheringham is credited with coining the terms Natural Governing Party for the federal Liberals, and the Holy Mother Corporation for the CBC in the course of writing his column. His columns occasionally opened with the exclamation "Zowie, Dr. Foth!"

In 2001, Fotheringham left Maclean's and became a columnist for The Globe and Mail. He had a nationally syndicated column in 20 newspapers for six years, then retired from regular contributions.