I began reading the Guardian Weekly in 1967 when I was living in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, working with Canadian University Service Overseas as a teacher. My friend Keith, from Salford, who worked as a forest economist with the UN, was a subscriber and shared the paper with me. The Guardian Weekly, along with nightly radio broadcasts from the CBC, served as a supplement to news from the local press, and alleviated bouts of homesickness.
Later Keith, along with his subscription, went on to a new assignment in Thailand, where I joined him a year later after my contract in Tanzania ended.
In Bangkok I taught a newspaper-reading course at Kasetsart University and supplemented material from the local press with articles from what had become my favourite paper, including republished editorials from the great Manchester Guardian editor, C P Scott.
Today, many years later, life does not include introducing students in Thailand (shown in this picture) to fine writing and thoughtful insights into world issues. I am retired, live in Toronto, still listen to the CBC and cherish every single issue of the paper – my own subscription – before passing it on to others. Thank you, Guardian Weekly, old friend of 50 years, and thank you, Keith, for introducing this much valued paper to me – I haven’t been the same since.
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