The Canadian National Exhibition field in Toronto is crowded with 1,100 musicians as world-renowned regimental bands and a huge array of pipe bands enthrall 33,000 spectators at the Military Tattoo of the World Scottish Festival in the early 1980s. Suddenly the field empties, and the spotlight illuminates one solitary kilt-wearing man. He stands tall, and proceeds to recite in a thick brogue, Toast to Canada, Our Adopted Homeland. Presenting the ode he wrote before the immense congregation was an enormous honour, and only one of many highlights in the long and illustrious career of Jack Whyte.
Now an octogenarian, Jack continues writing from his home in Kelowna, BC. His historical fiction novels and poetry have achieved international success with more than a million books sold in Canada and millions more worldwide, with translations into more than 20 languages. He has authored more than a dozen international bestsellers. As might be expected at his age, however, the last decade has also seen a few hurdles. Blessed with drive and determination, Jack has overcome these obstacles and continues to thrive.
A true patriot Canadian, Jack came to Canada in 1967 and has lived near Kelowna since 1996 – but his roots are firmly embedded in his birthplace of Scotland. Born into a working-class family in 1940, Jack was unusual from his early days, and was clearly destined to become a writer.
“Syntax was my overriding passion as a preteen boy,” he says. “For fun, I’d open books at random and parse a paragraph or an entire page, identifying and defining the parts of speech in every phrase and sentence.”
Before coming to Canada, Jack lived and was educated in England for eight years and in France for three years. In Canada, he started as a teacher in Athabasca, Alberta, before moving to BC. After a year of teaching, he was lured by his other talents and became a singer, musician, actor and entertainer – a career he followed for the next 30-odd years.
He has a good memory, “but only for things that interest me,” he says, adding “I have no facility for numbers, but I love words and idioms.” These talents led him to start writing, and over the next decades he became one of the top historical novelists in the world.
He is best known for his original series of nine novels, A Dream of Eagles, that retell the story of King Arthur against the backdrop of post-Roman Britain. Amazingly, he wrote the first four of these books in secrecy, and 15 years passed before he showed anyone his work. Once he did, however, the novels were bought by Penguin Canada, and Jack’s career was launched.
Since then, Jack has written the Knights Templar trilogy, the Guardians of Scotland trilogy, numerous poems and TV programs. Jack’s Arthurian books quickly became huge favourites in Italy, where his name has achieved brand recognition.
But there’s much more, I discovered. A consummate actor, he wrote and staged a one-man show, Rantin Rovin Robin, about Robbie Burns that toured across the country in the 1970s and was written expressly to show non-Scots Canadians why Burns is still honoured worldwide, after more than 200 years.
The success of this show, which opened many doors for him, was based on his love of words and narrative poetry. Jack emulates the light-hearted but deeply moving style of Rudyard Kipling, Robert Service and Australia’s Banjo Patterson. His poetry skills and sharp sense of humour garnered him the position of Regimental Bard of the Calgary Highlanders, a position he held for more than 30 years, and one of which I’m particularly envious. He has been invited to, and participated in, so many Robbie Burns nights that he wryly notes “I’ve got third-degree Burns.”
I was particularly touched to see Jack’s green side, which is well demonstrated in this excerpt from his poem The Faceless Ones that describes the sinking of the Exxon Valdez.
There’s blood in the ooze from the tanker’s screws.
There’s blood in the chain saw’s teeth.
There’s dread in the thread of the steel cat’s tread.
The torn earth screams beneath.
Fast forward to today. At an age when his contemporaries — at least those still around — are settling into easy-chairs, Jack is as vigorous as ever. He has four book projects on the go and is embarked on a totally different way of publishing his work. Particularly inspiring is that he has faced some life-threatening difficulties in recent years, namely two bouts of cancer. He fought his way through these obstacles, survived, and marches forward undeterred.
Eight years ago, he was diagnosed with lung cancer. He immediately quit smoking – not an easy task since he had been consuming two packs a day. After surgery to remove the cancer, he recovered fully, even to enjoying golf again (he lives in a golf community). And, of course, he continued to write.
In 2016, cancer struck again, this time more seriously, attacking his liver with several tumours. Although many thought he would not survive, after nine months of struggling with chemotherapy – when he lost considerable weight and all his hair – Jack has now recovered and is almost back to normal. The support of his wife, Beverley, was a huge help; they recently celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary.
Jack’s grit came from his father, who demonstrated ferocious tenacity and determination in overcoming blindness from a war wound to lead a successful life and career.
In response to the strain on his health, Jack has turned to shorter forms of fiction — short stories and novellas — that place fewer demands and stress on him. He is following the advice given by a respected friend and elder long ago, who said, “Never be afraid to change horses in midstream.”
Rather than dealing with a traditional publishing company, he is using online publishing through print-on-demand books, ebooks and audiobooks. Through this method, Jack invests in his work upfront by paying for editing and book production but receives considerably larger royalties than following the traditional route.
The first foray into online publishing came in October 2020, with the launch of Yesterday’s Battles, a collection of short stories each rooted, one way or another, in his boyhood memories of Scotland.
“It’s a new departure for me; the first book I’ve ever published directly to ebook and print-on-demand platforms,” he says. “It’s a big step to take at my age.” It is still too early to gauge the success of the new venture, but it looks promising.
Jack has three other works in progress now. One is a novella, The Horse Warrior, about a minor character who taught Sir Lancelot how to ride and fight. Another is a collection of short stories called Green Bananas. The third is Sadie’s Say So, which is about his mother and father.
“I have to live at least a few more years to get these works out,” he says, “and I have several other ideas percolating, as well.” A long road lies ahead.
When asked what fictional character he wished he could be, Jack responds, “Don Quixote de la Mancha. I’m getting to the age where it’s not such a stretch of the imagination, and I have always admired the old geezer. Besides, in a day wherein principles, of any persuasion, appear to be disappearing like spit from a hot griddle, I believe it wouldn’t be a bad thing to be remembered for having the courage of one’s convictions, outmoded and risible as some might find them.”
It’s inspiring to see such great talent with imagery and words, and even more so to see that Jack’s drive is undiminished, and he continues to have the courage of his convictions.
If you were to meet your 20-year-old self, what advice would you give him?
“Looking back over the 60 years since I was 20, I’m surprised to realize that my advice to my 20-year-old self would be pretty much the same as it might have been then: ‘Trust yourself and your upbringing, and never, ever be afraid to change your mind and try to reach out for something new that will challenge you to be different and make you better.”
Who, or what has influenced you the most? And why?
“My life has been influenced hugely by my father’s handling of his own misfortunes on and after D-Day [overcoming blindness and extensive wounds from a landmine]. That early influence affected the man I became.
Regarding my writing carer, my father had a friend, Tony, who gave me my first glimpse into the kind of mysteries that obscure the central truths hidden in our legends. Because of him, I became a de-constructor of legends, looking for the essentially human, unadorned truth that lies at the heart of every great legend. That’s what I do in my novels, and it embodies the most powerful influence I’ve known in my life.”
What are you most grateful for?
“I am most grateful for the opportunity I have enjoyed in being able to take my favourite pastime and build a successful living from it. I’m a writer, and I’ve enjoyed success in my chosen métier, and that is a privilege.”
What does success mean to you?
“Success has given me the kind of freedom that I never would have dreamed I might enjoy. That freedom encompasses artistic freedom, but it’s a long way from being limited or delineated by that.”
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