From My Autobiography : 1965 : Age 18

MARCH
I appear as 'Dr Emett' in the S.V.H.S. production of The Curious Savage.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Further inspired by H Rider Haggard’s ‘Ayesha’ series, I write a novel called The Hidden City of A-Ten.

From what I remember, I believe it was a story about brother-and-sister twins who travel to South America where they discover a hidden Mayan city and  somehow become its rulers.


1 – 2 MAY
Saturday – Sunday
With a friend of hers [whose name we can’t recall], my sister and I sing for a variety show—High Flying Follies—at the Bagotville base.

 

 

Two of the songs were Singing the Blues and Cool Water. My sister believes we also did a Beatles number, but we don’t recall which one it was.


 

 

 

 

 

 Cast of High Flying Follies

 

 

 

JUNE
I pass Grade 10 at Saguenay Valley High School.

Though, not without some confusion. Whoever scored the final marks somehow managed to give me a failing 50 in Latin, a subject I never took at S.V.H.S. After a few phone calls and letters from Dad, by  August they finally had it straightened out and I could enter Grade 11.


In my yearbook, classmate John Geffken writes—“You have to rate as one of the most interesting fellows that I’ve ever met. Nobody could have a mind[?] like yours.”

 

SUMMER
At a bookstore in Chicoutimi, I buy a book called The Perfumed Garden translated by Sir Richard Burton. Its descriptive sexual passages further fill my fantasies.

At the same store, I pick up a magazine about female impersonators—Female Mimics—and look through it. After reading an article about Craig Russell, I begin to wonder if that's what I am or should be doing. Increasingly, I begin to believe I should have been born as a female. At the same time, I realize I don’t like men sexually, so would that make me a lesbian if I did change my sex? This further confuses me regarding my gender identity.

 
I write Return to A-Ten, another novella featuring the brother-and-sister twins.

I no longer remember the plot of this novel.

I really wish I had saved a lot of that old material so I could see how my writing evolved over the years. However, such is not the case. One of the main reasons why? I will reveal that in January 1974.


My sister and I visit, and work, on a farm somewhere in Ontario.

A Note from my sister:
“That was Lloyd Ackert's farm ... Dad met him at the Jamboree, and he invited us to go visit for a week, I think. Just you and I went on the bus, and they picked us up at the bus station, but I don't remember where.”


 

 

 

While there, I go to a local radio station to have a recording made of some of my songs.

Another Note from my sister:
“I don't know about the recording studio. You helped out on the farm, and I helped in the house. I don't remember exactly  how long—a week or maybe two.”

And I don’t remember whether a tape recording was ever made. However, I do still have other reel-to-reel tapes from the mid- to late-1960s that I recorded and it may be among them. But, currently, I have no machine on which to play, edit, or digitize them. For home use, such machines are difficult to find these days [nor are they at an affordable price].


SEPTEMBER
I enter Grade 11 at Saguenay Valley High School.


18 NOVEMBER
Thursday
I receive Canadian citizenship.

Since I didn't personally apply for it, I must assume that Dad sent in an application for all of us. Not unlike much of our family life, my parents discussed little with my sister and me. Mum and Dad made all the decisions; sis and I had no choice but to go along.

There Have Been Times

MY GOD CAN SUPPLY

From My Autobiography : 1964 : Age 17

JANUARY
While babysitting at a neighbour’s apartment one night, I hear the Beatles' newly released song, I Wanna Hold Your Hand, played on the 2 Wing base radio. It inspires me so much that I begin to write lyrics, but I'm unable to write the music that I hear in my head for them. However, I make little dots above the words to help me remember the melodies.

 In the same way that I devoured Marvel Comics in 1961, over the next few years, I eagerly looked forward to the next releases not only from the Beatles, but also many of the other groups during the musical ‘British Invasion’ — Herman’s Hermits, Gerry and the Pacemakers, Billy J Kramer & the Dakotas, the Dave Clark Five, Donovan, and countless others. All of them at the time, in some way, inspired my song writing and composing.

Along with the rest of my Grade 11 class, I travel by bus to the Strasbourg Opera House to watch a production of Georges Bizet's opera, Carmen. The experience enthralls me, and I become more interested in acting and theatre, particularly the behind-the-scenes areas.

A few of our 2 Wing friends throw a going-away party for my sister and me.

4 FEBRUARY
Tuesday
The time has come to leave 2 Wing. We drive to Marville, then fly in a CC-106 Yukon to Trenton, Ontario, from whence we travel to R.C.A.F. Station Bagotville in the province of Quebec.

We find a home in the Murdoch Apartments, roughly fifteen kilometers equi-distant from the air force base and the school I will attend.

Residence:
Talbot Blvd
Chicoutimi, Quebec, Canada

MARCH
I enter Grade 10 at Saguenay Valley High School. 

 

S.V.H.S., also once known as the Arvida High School, is now known as Riverside Regional High School.

Dad buys me a Harmony Stella Flattop Acoustic Parlour Guitar and I begin to teach myself chords. I start to set the lyrics I've already written to chords and melodies, and I also learn my favorite hit parade songs.

I join the Bagotville Protestant choir

JUNE
I fail Grade 10 at Saguenay Valley High School.

The constant travelling to different R.C.A.F. bases, and switching schools, often caused havoc for many military kids [a.k.a. B.R.A.T.—British Regiment Attached Traveler, a term held over from the 1920s]. In my case, coming into S.V.H.S. halfway through the year, and to a different education system, made it extremely difficult for me to be able to catch up or learn new material. Hence my failure this year. Later, when we moved to Calgary in 1966, that would again cause difficulties (as you will read). Consequently, I failed once, graduated twice, and never left school until I was 20 years old.

Some might also say I didn’t work hard enough to bring up my averages by June. [Or, more than likely, I couldn’t be bothered]. I must admit, I was lazy back then.


SUMMER
Two movies I see at the Bagotville base cinema have an effect on me—Hercules, starring Steve Reeves; and Jason & the Argonauts, starring Todd Armstrong. Both ignite a passion for the sword ’n’ sandal and sword ’n’ sorcery heroic fantasy genres that I will enjoy for the rest of my life.

I re-read Haggard's Ayesha: The Return of She and design a poster of the movie I would like to make from the book.

Although I have this photo of the poster, I wish I still had the original. However, somewhere on my later travels, I must have lost it.

There was a girl named Carol Wilson at 2 Wing who apparently was interested in going around with me, but I didn’t find out about that until I returned to Canada, and we began to correspond with each other. Consequently, I drew a pencil portrait of her, and listed her as a ‘main lead’ on my ‘Ayesha’ poster.


SEPTEMBER
I enter Grade 10 [again] at Saguenay Valley High School.

I read Edgar Rice Burroughs' John Carter of Mars series, and it inspires me to write my first short novel entitled Zorab.

From what I recall, this novella pretty much mirrored the plot of Burroughs’ A Princess of Mars, but I used different characters and settings.

I continue to practice my singing and guitar chords by myself, and occasionally with my sister as we practice for an up-coming performance next year.

WINTER
Dad shovels snow that’s about two feet high.

I know what some of my readers might think—why didn’t I shovel the walk? Quite frankly, I was either lazy, as I indicated earlier, or I probably didn’t do a good enough job for Dad!

PSALM 37