Reuel Wilson (1938 - 2026)

   Reuel Wilson was on the faculty at UWO/Western University for many years. Given that it is rather quiet on campus right now and that less people read newspapers and, perhaps even less notice obituaries, my purpose here is to provide his obituary and the memorial notice found on the Western website. As well, information about Reuel's last book is included. 
  Many years ago, I played squash with Reuel and for a period when he was away, probably in Wellfleet, I lived in his house on Huron Street. Being the son of a very famous father and perhaps an even more popular mother, it contained photographs of many people who were recognizable, including his uncle, an actor. Over the years I would occasionally run into Reuel on campus and in our brief conversations, the famous people were never mentioned and I am sure he was pleased that the name "Wilson" guaranteed a certain degree of anonymity. I don't think any local reporters bothered him when one of his parents was in the news --- for example, when his mother called Lillian Hellman a liar on The Dick Cavett Show and was sued for $2.5 million, or when they passed on. I am fairly sure he enjoyed his quiet life on campus and he did come to London and stay here. I will say little more, since some of his colleagues provide comments about Reuel after the thorough obituary.

  In recent years Reuel was sometimes seen walking through the stacks in Weldon Library, in which he had a carrel. The "library window" referred to in the blurb for his book, is the one in Weldon where he did his research and writing. If you want to know more about a very interesting and nice fellow, or are curious about what he might have to say about his days at Western and in London, I suggest you buy the book. It is simple to do so. Go to Amazon and look for the title, Holding the Road...
   Order it and, no matter where you are, a copy will be printed close by and delivered to your door. Mine came the next day from Bolton and was quickly read and enjoyed. I am glad I was able to meet him. 
  

   "Reuel Wilson’s new memoir, Holding the Road: Away from Edmund Wilson and Mary McCarthy, follows the author through his childhood, spent in the households of his divorced parents, and then the expanding perspectives of his adult life. The reader meets Reuel’s closest relatives and confidants: Bowden Broadwater, his first step-father, Rosalind Wilson, his older half-sister, his uncle, Kevin McCarthy, the famous actor, and two remarkable Polish women, one a surrogate mother, the other McCarthy’s brilliant translator, who came to play the role of an aunt whom had never had. Following his diverse interests, Reuel traveled widely. Intellectual and cultural history are reflected in the people and places he knew and glimpsed – Montgomery Clift, Peggy Guggenheim, Hannah Arendt, Dwight Macdonald, Renata Adler, James Jones, Edward Said, Eldridge Cleaver in California, a zombie prostitute in Moscow, a flamboyant independent book seller in Havana, a venerable Marxist writer in Port-au-Prince. The book closes with an inside view of academia, the author’s home territory. He also recalls his mother’s stints as a college lecturer, and analyzes her ground-breaking novel The Groves of Academe. The conclusion, punctuated by a student demonstration under the writer’s library window, takes a broader view of the outlying city, landscape, and, by extension, of his adoptive country, Canada. In conclusion, he voices the hope that these fragments of life, now recalled in tranquility, will find wider resonance."

In Memoriam

Professor Reuel Wilson (1938-2026)

Remembering Reuel Wilson

   The Department of Languages and Cultures mourns the passing of Reuel Wilson, who retired from the former Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures in 2002. Professor Wilson taught Polish, Russian, and Comparative Literature for many years at Western and is remembered by colleagues as a warm, kind, and generous presence in the department. Those who worked with him recall his wonderful sense of humour, his genuine interest in colleagues and students, and the encouragement he offered to those at earlier stages of their careers. He remained deeply interested in the department’s programs and left a lasting impression on those who had the privilege of knowing him. We extend our sincere condolences to his family, friends, former colleagues, and students.
(This is found on the Western University website - Department of Languages, Cultures, and Linguistics)
--------------------------------------------

The Obituary

Reuel Kimball Wilson Obituary
(From the London Free Press, June 22, 2026)

   Reuel Wilson was born on December 25, 1938, in Manhattan, New York. He died at his home on June 4, 2026, surrounded by his loving family in London, Ontario, where he lived with his beloved wife Natsuko for 46 years.

   Reuel Kimball Wilson was named after his father's uncle, a physician much esteemed by the family. His father Edmund Wilson was an influential literary critic, an early champion of European avant-garde and modernist expression, an active chronicler of his times, and an authority on the work of his contemporaries, including F. Scott Fitzgerald and many others. His mother, Mary McCarthy, was a pioneering novelist, memoirist, and critic. Her bestselling 1963 novel The Group became a cultural phenomenon adapted into a film by Sidney Lumet. Her memoir, Memories of a Catholic Girlhood, about her upbringing and the events surrounding the sudden death of her parents during the Spanish influenza epidemic, is considered a classic of the genre and is dedicated to Reuel.

   Reuel's childhood was spent between his parents in New York, Cape Cod, and Rhode Island. As a boy he attended St. Bernard's School in New York, where his cherished stepfather and lifelong friend, Bowden Broadwater, was a well-loved, eccentric mainstay. After attending St. George's School and graduating from Brooks School, he completed his undergraduate studies in Romance languages and literature at Harvard College.

   Raised in an environment shaped by engagement with literary traditions of many cultures, Reuel developed an enduring interest in multilingualism that would define his studies, his scholarly career, and larger outlook in life. In the 1960s he continued his studies of Slavic languages and literature in graduate school at the University of California, Berkeley. There he studied under, and translated the work of, the Nobel Prize-winning Polish poet Czesław Miłosz. He wrote a doctoral thesis at the University of Chicago on Russian travel literature published as The Literary Travelogue: A Comparative Study with Special Relevance to Russian Literature from Fonvizin to Pushkin. By then, he had become fluent in Russian, Polish, and French; he would later master Spanish, in connection with his love of travel to foreign countries, especially Cuba and Mexico, and his intense curiosity for the contemporary literature emerging from the Spanish-speaking world.

   Reuel taught Polish at UCLA for some years before he moved to Canada in 1970, with his first wife, Marcia, and joined the faculty of the Slavic Languages and Literatures department at the University of Western Ontario. There he taught undergraduate and graduate courses in language, in comparative literature, and in Russian and Polish literature (in the original languages). As a professor, he mentored many students, published articles and book reviews, and another book, with Jan Pachonski, Poland's Caribbean Tragedy: A Study of the Polish Legions in the Haitian War of Independence, 1802-1803. It concerns Haiti's war of independence and Napoleon Bonaparte's plan to have his generals conscript the Polish into the war in order to reintroduce slavery into Saint-Domingue, then the wealthiest colony of France.

   After retiring in 2002 he published two memoirs: To the Life of the Silver Harbor: Edmund Wilson and Mary McCarthy on Cape Cod (2008), which revisits moments from his childhood and the works of his parents linked to the landscape to which he held a strong attachment; and Holding the Road: Away from Edmund Wilson and Mary McCarthy (2019), where he offers vivid portraits of figures from his past, such as Hannah Arendt, Peggy Guggenheim, and his dear uncle, the actor Kevin McCarthy, best known from his leading role in the original Invasion of the Body Snatchers movie.

   Reuel continued to travel widely to foreign countries, to spend time in spring and fall in Wellfleet, Cape Cod, and to take pleasure in his various interests, which included cooking, barbequing in summer, gardening, and reading books, newspapers and journals in various languages. He remained close with former colleagues and friends and enjoyed hosting dinners. Eschewing fuss of any kind, Reuel appreciated the straightforward beauty of simplicity in nature, art, music, and friendship. His dry sense of humor and allergy to convention remained intact. His vivid memory of both historical events and of the details of his own and others' personal pasts never faded. He continued to play squash into his seventies and to enjoy bike-riding, swimming and exploring new places by car and on foot for many years afterward. An adventurous traveler quick to pick up the local dialects and idioms of the languages he came to know, he ventured off the beaten path to places such as Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Russia, Poland, and Portugal before the swell of mass tourism.

FROM THE GUESTBOOK

Reuel had a sly sense of humour, and he had a comprehensive knowledge of literature. He grew up in a household in which John Dos Passos and Vladimir Nabokov came to dinner often. I loved the way he often seemed to be mildly amused by life. Thank you, Reuel, for being my colleague.
Laurence de Looze
June 22, 2026

So sad. Reuel was a lovely man. He had a profound knowledge of world literature and a keen interest in sharing it with students and colleagues. I smile when I think of him riding all over London on his bike and surviving some tumbles. We had a brief visit last year and I was looking forward to seeing him again this summer. My condolences to Natsuko and his children.\
Marjorie Ratcliffe
June 22, 2026

Reuel was a wonderful colleague who welcomed me when I joined the Russian studies section of the Dept. of Modern Languages in 1991. We saw each other a lot in the 1990s, and he always wanted to speak to me in Russian, which he did very well. He was an impressive polyglot whose repertoire included Polish and Spanish, as well as French. We had many conversations in his office and saw each other off campus frequently. Reuel was extremely well-read and had a wide range of interests. I will always fondly remember our friendship. Sincere condolences to Natsuko and Sophie.
Vladimir Tumanov
June 23, 2026

I first encountered Reuel's work through the world of Polish studies; we even had the same Polish professor (though in different decades). I was a great admirer of Reuel's splendid book on "Poland's Caribbean Tragedy." When I met him I was of course impressed by his wisdom, erudition, and wonderful amiability. Condolences to Natsuko, Sophia, and the whole family.
Larry Wolff
June 24, 2026

Reuel was a great colleague, full of kindness and humour. I remember being invited to his home and Natsuko made the most wonderful Suchi.
Reuel continued his research after he retired, and after he retired he used to come by for me to sign the forms so he could have a table in the library. I always looked forward to his visits. He is missed.
Joyce Bruhn de Garavito
June 22, 2026

Post Script:
  Over the years, I have often mentioned Western in my blog and some of the people I knew while working there, including Reuel. Most recently, his mother is mentioned in my post about Hannah Arendt. His father wrote many books, including one about Canada, see "OH! Canada?". His father's papers are in Tulsa, along with those of Bob Dylan.

Hannah Arendt's Library

   I recently posted some photographs of the libraries of Eric Hobsbawn and William T. Vollman and here is another one. This one belonged to Hannah Arendt and it looks to be sizeable. I wondered what happened to those books.

  When she died in 1975 the books were acquired by Bard College. There were about 4,000 of them and "Of particular significance are the 900+ volumes containing marginal notes or lining, endnotes or ephemera, as well as many volumes inscribed to her by Martin Heidegger, Gershom Scholem, W.H. Auden and Randall Jarrell, among others."

Sources: 
  The photograph is found in a review of a new book about Arendt: "A Dense Life of Hannah Arendt Doesn’t Justify Its Prodigious Research," by Jennifer Szalai, The New York Times, Aug. 12, 2026. The book is: HANNAH ARENDT: A Life of the Mind, by Thomas Meyer.
  For more details see Bard's description of the Hannah Arendt Personal Library. 
"After Hannah Arendt’s death in 1975, her personal library was acquired by Bard College through the efforts of co-executors Lotte Kohler and Mary McCarthy;"

  While many university libraries are hollowing out, a few are still collecting books and other material with intellectual and/or aesthetic value.

The Bonus: 
  You will note sbove that a co-executor of Arendt's estate was Mary McCarthy. Her son was a retired Professor Emeritus who taught at UWO/Western University and passed away in June 2026.
  Another, more detailed review is provided by David Denby in The New Yorker: "The Uses of Exile," Aug. 17, 2026. In it McCarthy is said to be Arendt's "closest American friend", and supported her after she was attacked when Eichmann in Jerusalem was published. 

Squashing It

 

Western's Men's Squash Team Wins the OUA Championship AGAIN
   They have done so for forty-two years in a row. That is, since 1982 when the war being fought was farther away, in the Falkland Islands. I thought I would call this to your attention again this year since again it will go almost unnoticed. I suppose that even if we, like everyone else now, were not living in a local news desert, it might not have been reported on, since it is rather boring, having been repeated over and over for forty-two years.
   Here is some information about the performance of the men's team as reported by the OUA:
  "Western capped off another dominant season on Sunday, defeating the University of Toronto 7-0 in the gold medal final to claim the 2026 OUA Men’s Squash Championship.
   The Mustangs controlled the tournament from the opening matches, finishing atop the standings with a perfect 5-0 record while compiling a remarkable 34-1 individual match record.
   Head coach Chris Hanebury credited the team’s lineup strength as a major contributor to the championship run....
  The victory marks Western’s 42nd straight OUA title, continuing one of the most impressive dynasties in Canadian university athletics. Veteran Antonio Mendes spoke to the challenge that comes with maintaining such a streak.
  “It feels amazing. Every year we come out here, obviously we have a lot of pressure on our backs from having that streak, but I think the guys really live up to it every year,” Mendes said.

  The Western's Women's Squash Team also won - for the second year in a row. Here is some information about their victories, as reported on the Ontario University Athletics Website.
   "Western University completed a dominant weekend at the OUA Squash Championship, defeating Queen’s 6-1 in the gold medal match to secure the women’s banner and finish the tournament undefeated.
   The Mustangs closed the championship with a perfect 5-0 record while pacing the field with 28 individual match victories, an 87-19 games record, and an impressive 1113-590 points differential....
   Straight-game victories from Caitlin Ng, Katie Boulanger, and Sophie Pinfold helped swing momentum, while Sienna Grossi secured the championship point with a four-game win.  Queen’s lone victory came from Gabby Waite at the top of the ladder.
   Head coach Tom Panabaker praised his group following the championship result.“It feels awesome. The girls do all the hard work. They plan, work all year, and train hard. We’ve got a fantastic group of girls,” said Panabaker.
  For the players, the moment reflected years of preparation and commitment to the program.
“Back-to-back gold, this is something we’ve been working for a long time… winning with the boys too makes it so much better,” said Western’s Madison Draayer and Sophie Pinfold.
  The championship also highlighted several standout individual performances. Western rookie Caitlin Ng was named Rookie of the Year after a flawless 5-0 weekend without dropping a game...."
  
   If you happened to look at the Western University website, the victories of the two teams were reported. See, for example: "Mustangs Men's Squash dynasty continues for 42nd consecutive year," Mustang Sports Information, 2/9/2026 and, "Trio of Western Mustangs Teams Crowned Champions: Men's and women's squash teams win gold provincially, cheerleading squad earns national title," By Mustangs Communications, Special to Western News, February 11, 2026.
  Note that the Western Cheerleading Squad won the national title.

Things Are Tougher South of the Border
   The Western's Men's Squash Team also competes against the best U.S. Collegiate Teams and has done so for years. The College Squash Association National Team Championships are from March 5-8 in Philadelphia. I hope the Western guys are given some money for gas and can attend. 
   You may have noticed the dominance of the Western teams at the OUA event. It is often the case in squash that very good players and teams are squashed by even better players and teams. Here is a look at Western's results in the U.S. on the eve of the championship.

  Western is currently ranked 18th in the U.S. and I will report back about what happens in Philadelphia, if no one else does.  The teams Western played above are among the top ones in the U.S. Penn won the national title last year.

AFAR

 Advanced Facility For Avian Research
   I have been a bit under the weather, but overhead the skies have been clear and the fall weather fine. That combination resulted in a loss in the  production of posts for MM, but I can’t say there has been an increase in the number of complaints from readers. The few who appear to stumble upon something in MM, do so whether I am writing or not and the royalties continue to roll into my offshore accounts.

 

  While high in the clear sky the birds have continued their migration south, there are some birds in London flying continuously, but going nowhere. Their wings are flapping at the Advanced Facility for Avian Research up at Western University. I told you about that place four years ago in “For The Birds” and the information there is still useful. 
    More is provided, and AFAR noticed, in a recent article in the New York Times. It is good that we can read some local news, even if it comes from afar. Online you will find it under, “What Flying in a Wind Tunnel Reveals About Birds,” on Oct 11. It appears in print in the NYT on Oct. 15, with the title, “Some Birds Migrate Thousands of Miles Every Autumn: How Exactly Do They To They Manage It? Scientists Built a Flight Chamber to Find Out.” Emily Anthes is the author. Here is a portion that provides some of the questions for which answers are sought by those up at Western. 

  "It is understandably difficult to monitor the internal workings of a wild bird while it is soaring thousands of feet in the air. So Dr. Guglielmo sends his avian test subjects on simulated journeys. At the Advanced Facility for Avian Research, he and his colleagues use a hypobaric wind tunnel, which functions, in essence, as a treadmill for airborne birds....

   Scientists can send air through the main test chamber at varying speeds, up to about 40 miles per hour. Not all birds take to the tunnel — “about half of them will be good fliers,” Dr. Guglielmo said — but those that do can flap their wings for hours at a time while remaining, conveniently, in one place.

Researchers can adjust not only the wind speed inside the tunnel but also the temperature, humidity and air pressure to simulate different flying conditions and altitudes. They can study the physics of flight, mapping how air flows around the bodies of different birds, or focus on avian physiology: How does a bird’s breathing change at higher altitudes? How does diet affect flight performance?"
For additional information see: AFAR. 

Boundary Layer Wind Tunnel Laboratory
   The hypobaric wind tunnel at Western is not the only wind tunnel at Western. Back in the mid-1960s, UWO was "considered the birthplace of the modern practice of wind engineering."  For more details see this digital heritage plaque.      

Post Script
   It used to be the case that no one knew where the birds went when the weather turned cold. A clue was finally provided by a stork.
See: "The University of the Unusual (2) - The Mystery of Avian Migration."

Bowl Games Primer

   This is another rainy day effort created for those who want an excuse to not go Christmas shopping and who are not interested in watching all of those football games on TV, many of which are played in bowls. Here is a convenient list of them, only in that I have alphabetized it. It may be useful if you want to pretend to know something about what others are watching. It is not so useful if you do want to watch them since (spoiler alert) some of them have already been played. 

   Fifty are listed below, forty-four in the 'major' category and six lesser ones. There are many more. You can easily find information about them, but here are a few remarks for the perplexed. The first two numbered ones are a gas company and an investment firm from Daphne, Alabama. Food is often related and you will notice first the Avocados and then find that you can have Cheez-It with citrus or Chick-Fil-A with peaches, and also enjoy Potatoes and Mayo. Pop-Tarts, perhaps for dessert. The Wasabi one, however, is not about eating. Arranging the bowl names alphabetically leads one to recognize that two have military connections - Lockheed followed by the Military one, which encourages bowling. The Isleta one probably promotes gambling since it is the name of a New Mexico resort and casino.  Since we are nearing year's end, it is useful that two of the bowls are sponsored by companies that will help you with your taxes. Two of the bowls are "Famous." Glancing back up the list I noticed Bad Boy Mowers which allows one to "mow with an attitude." I will put some "local" information at the end, but will note here that London recently lost its "Bad Boy" store, but got its first Chick-Fil-A.

68 VENTURES BOWL 

76 BIRMINGHAM BOWL

ALLSTATE SUGAR BOWL

​​AUTOZONE LIBERTY BOWL  

AVOCADOS FROM MEXICO CURE BOWL

BAD BOY MOWERS PINSTRIPE BOWL 

BARSTOOL SPORTS ARIZONA BOWL 

CAMELLIA BOWL

CAPITAL ONE ORANGE BOWL 

CHEEZ-IT CITRUS BOWL     

CHICK-FIL-A PEACH BOWL 

COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFF NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP BY AT&T

CRICKET CELEBRATION BOWL

DIRECTV HOLIDAY BOWL 

DUKE'S MAYO BOWL

EAST-WEST SHRINE BOWL

EASYPOST HAWAI'I BOWL

FAMOUS IDAHO POTATO BOWL

FAMOUS TOASTERY BOWL

GOODYEAR COTTON BOWL CLASSIC  

GUARANTEED RATE BOWL  ISLETA NEW MEXICO BOWL

LOCKHEED MARTIN ARMED FORCES BOWL MILITARY BOWL PRESENTED BY GOBOWLING.COM MYRTLE BEACH BOWL POP-TARTS BOWL QUICK LANE BOWL RADIANCE TECHNOLOGIES INDEPENDENCE BOWL RELIAQUEST BOWL ROOFCLAIM.COM BOCA RATON BOWL ROSE BOWL GAME PRESENTED BY PRUDENTIAL R+L CARRIERS NEW ORLEANS BOWL SCOOTER'S COFFEE FRISCO BOWL SERVPRO FIRST RESPONDER BOWL SRS DISTRIBUTION LAS VEGAS BOWL STARCO BRANDS LA BOWL HOSTED BY GRONK TAXACT TEXAS BOWL

TAXSLAYER GATOR BOWL TONY THE TIGER SUN BOWL TRANSPERFECT MUSIC CITY BOWL UNION HOME MORTGAGE GASPARILLA BOWL VALERO ALAMO BOWL VRBO FIESTA BOW WASABI FENWAY BOWL

OTHER BOWLS

BAHAMAS BOWL

BIRMINGHAM BOWL

THE COUSINS SUBS LAKEFRONT BOWL

FLORIDA BEACH BOWL

HAWAII BOWL

TEXAS BOWL

Canadian Content:

Football is not so popular up here. Western University is a large one with a football stadium that would be considered small by many Texas football high school coaches. Still it is usually less than half full. Or, perhaps half empty.

Simon Fraser University out on the West Coast used to play some football down south in NCAA Division II, but last year it dropped its football program and plays not at all.

Source: The graph is from: "A Perfect Day For Football," Miles Bolton, The Gazette, Sept. 11, 2023.

GOOD BOOK AWARDS

 The Scotiabank Giller Prize and The Cundill History Prize

   There is a great deal written about the JUNOS, EMMYS and OSCARS, but not so much about awards given to the writers of books. As a Canadian you may have heard about "The Gillers", perhaps because the winner this year will be announced by Rick Mercer tomorrow night at 9 on the CBC. It is awarded for a work of fiction, whereas, the little-known, "The Cundill", is for a non-fictional historical work.

   You will be relieved that I will not write much more, mainly because the official websites of each provide all the information you need, so you can stop here if you wish: "The Scotiabank Giller Prize." "The Cundill History Prize."

   The longlist for the 2023 Scotiabank Giller Prize consisted of 145 titles and the 5 finalists were announced on September 6 and they are:

"Sarah Bernstein for her novel Study For Obedience, published by Knopf Canada

Eleanor Catton for her novel Birnam Wood, published by McClelland & Stewart

Kevin Chong for his novel The Double Life of Benson Yu, published by Simon & Schuster

Dionne Irving for her short story collection, The Islands: Stories, published by Catapult

CS Richardson for his novel All The Colour in the World, published by Knopf Canada."

   The one bit of information I will call to your attention is that the author of the work bolded above, Eleanor Catton, was born in London, Ontario. That fact was reported by the Associated Press and published by CTV News ten years ago when she won "The Man Booker Prize" for The Luminaries " ("London, Ont.-born Writer Eleanor Catton Wins Man Booker Prize," CTV NEWS, Oct. 15, 2023.)

  Why was she born in London? The answer to such a question is the reason why you are reading MM. Her father, Philip, was a part-time instructor at UWO, got his Ph.D and later taught there as you will see from his Curriculum Vitae. His dissertation, if you must know: Science and the Systematicity of Nature : A Critique of Nancy Cartwright's Doctrine of Nature and Natural Science. If you are now curious about Nancy Cartwright, you are on your own. Apparently he has since moved on from philosophy to civil engineering! Kudos to both of them.

   Information about "The Cundill History Prize" is hosted by McGill and if you look at the link provided, do also view, "The Cundill History Hub." Back in 2017 I discussed this prize, which at that time was the richest one in the world for a work of non-fiction (and probably still is - $75,000) See, "Christmas Shopping for Historians."

   The winner does not have to be Canadian, by the way, and this year she is: Tania Branigan for, Red Memory: Living, Remembering and Forgetting China's Cultural Revolution." It may even be readable, given that:

"The prize reminds academic historians that there is a general reading public that wants to read serious history. So much scholarship nowadays is written for purely professional purposes: articles and books written for other specialists who then proceed to cite it in their own works. The more citations and downloads you have, the more “impact” you have, even if no schoolteacher of history (let alone a bank manager, engineer, or dentist) is ever going to read a word you have written. To some extent, this is right and proper: academics do need to satisfy their peers. But history as a discipline shouldn’t, in my view, take refuge in academe. The Cundill History Prize encourages historians who write for a general audience. Long may it continue!"

The Grapefruit Effect

    Although I do not have to take any prescribed drugs and do not pay much attention to health-related articles, I was vaguely aware that the word "grapefruit" is often mentioned near the word "medicine." Basically it appears that this citrus fruit can react with many drugs in ways which are not helpful.

   I was not aware at all that the "Grapefruit Effect" was one of those "accidental scientific discoveries" and that the discovery occurred here in London when Dr. David Bailey was trying to figure out ways to hide the taste of alcohol from those who were participating in a study he was doing on a blood pressure drug. The solution was grapefruit juice and it was a suggestion from his wife that led to an accidental discovery of considerable significance:

“It was really my wife Barbara and I, one Saturday night, we decided to try everything in the refrigerator,” says Bailey. They mixed pharmaceutical-grade booze with all kinds of juices, but nothing was really working; the alcohol always came through. “Finally at the very end, she said, ‘You know, we’ve got a can of grapefruit juice. Why don’t you try that?’ And by golly, you couldn’t tell!” says Bailey. So he decided to give his experimental subjects a cocktail of alcohol and grapefruit juice (a greyhound, when made with vodka), and his control group a glass of unadulterated grapefruit juice.
The blinding worked, but the results of the study were … strange. There was a slight difference in blood pressure between the groups, which isn’t that unusual, but then Bailey looked at the amount of the drug in the subjects’ bloodstreams. “The levels were about four times higher than I would have expected for the doses they were taking,” he says. This was true of both the control and experimental groups. Bailey checked every possible thing that could have gone wrong—his figures, whether the pharmacist gave him the wrong dosage—but nothing was off. Except the grapefruit juice."

Mrs. Bailey died in 2020. Dr. Bailey died on August 27, 2022, both in London, Ontario. 

Dr. David Bailey and Western University

   London, Ontario is not alone in being a "local news desert." There is still one  newspaper in the city, but there is little in it that is concerned with London, where the owners of it no longer reside and where it is no longer printed. The few remaining local reporters do a good job, but they can't cover everything. There are a couple of publications up at Western University, but I have not noticed anything about the death of Dr. Bailey and the writers there have no shortage of crucial issues to report upon. 

   I admitted at the beginning, my general lack of awareness and I may have missed some stories about Dr. Bailey and the "accidental discovery", but just in case there are none, I have gathered some information from which additional articles could later be constructed by others. Dr. Bailey, like Dr. Barr, is a name Londoners should recognize. 

   If you are more interested in athletics than pharmacology, I should mention that Dr. Bailey is Canada's Bannister, in that he was the first Canadian to run a mile in under four minutes. Information about Dr. Bailey, the Olympian, is also provided below.

  I became aware of Dr. Bailey because of an article in the American magazine, The Atlantic Monthly. I received it via email in December: "No One Can Decide if Grapefruit is Dangerous: The Citrus Can Raise the Level of Dozens of Drugs in the Body -- Sometimes to a Worrying Degree, Sometimes Very Much Not," Katherine J. Wu, Dec. 26, 2022. Dr. Bailey's discovery is discussed and, Dr. Dresser, who was mentored by Bailey is quoted. Dr. George Dresser is in the Department of Medicine at Western. Here is a portion of the article that mentions both of them:

"Grapefruit’s medication-concentrating powers were discovered only because of a culinary accident. Some three decades ago, the clinical pharmacologist David Bailey (who died earlier this year) was running a trial testing the effects of alcohol consumption on a blood-pressure medication called felodipine. Hoping to mask the distinctive taste of booze for his volunteers, Bailey mixed it with grapefruit juice, and was shocked to discover that blood levels of felodipine were suddenly skyrocketing in everyone—even those in the control group, who were drinking virgin grapefruit juice.
After running experiments on himself, Bailey confirmed that the juice was to blame. Some chemical in grapefruit was messing with the body’s natural ability to break down felodipine in the hours after it was taken, causing the drug to accumulate in the blood. It’s the rough physiological equivalent of jamming a garbage disposal: Waste that normally gets flushed just builds, and builds, and builds. In this case, the garbage disposal is an enzyme called cytochrome P450 3A4—CYP3A4 for short—capable of breaking down a whole slate of potentially harmful chemicals found in foods and meds. And the jamming culprit is a compound found in the pulp and peel of grapefruit and related citrus, including pomelos and Seville oranges. It doesn’t take much: Even half a grapefruit can be enough to trigger a noticeable interaction, says George Dresser, a pharmacologist at Western University, in Ontario."

Additional information about the "Grapefruit Effect" and Bailey is provided below.

Also An Athlete   

Bailey is on the right. Medalists in the 1500-metre run at the
Winnipeg Pan Am Games.

   At the age of nine, David Bailey lost an eye in an accident and his participation in sports was limited to running. He became quite good at it. His athletic achievements are noted in his Globe and Mail obituary and are provided here:

"He became the first Canadian to run a mile in under four minutes, and represented Canada in the event, which is rarely staged any more, at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City – after overcoming considerable adversity as a youngster.

David struggled through his early teens and lacked a sense of identity as a result of the eye injury and exclusion from contact sports, according to Harvey Mitro, a runner, writer and long-time friend. But a high-school coach recognized David’s running talent and, in 1961, placed him in the East York Track Club.

The club was led by legendary coach Fred Foot, who later mentored him at the University of Toronto and also worked in the Canadian Olympic program. David flourished under Mr. Foot’s guidance and the opportunity to train, and compete occasionally, with two older athletes: Bruce Kidd and Bill Crothers, who specialized in other distances and would become running legends.

While the three runners trained together, Mr. Kidd, won the 1962 Commonwealth Games six-mile event and competed in the 1964 Olympics. Mr. Crothers, a two-time Olympian during those years, earned an 800-metre silver medal at the 1964 Tokyo Games.

In 1962 at Varsity Stadium in Toronto, David set a world record in the mile for his age group, as a 17-year-old. And, late one Saturday night in June, 1966, in San Diego, he became the first Canadian to run a mile in under four minutes, posting a time of 3:59.1.

But Mr. Foot wanted him to break four minutes in Canada, too, Mr. Kidd recalled. So the coach organized another race, in July of 1967 at Varsity Stadium – without revealing the goal to David so that he would not feel extra pressure.

Mr. Foot instructed Bryan Emery to set a fast first-lap pace and secretly told Mr. Crothers to drop out at the three-quarter mark, according to Mr. Kidd. David was hot on Mr. Crothers’s heels when he quit running.

“I will never forget the look on [David’s] face when he realized what was happening,” Mr. Kidd said. “Bill just stepped off the track after taking the second step in this superb pace-setting job. Dave looked at him with the expression ‘Oh, my God,’ and then just put his shoulder down and just barrelled ahead to that fabulous time.”

He crossed the finish line in 3:57.7, becoming the first Canadian to break the four-minute-mile barrier in Canada.

Individually and as a team member, he garnered multiple conference and Canadian championships at the university level and berths in the U of T and Ontario sports halls of fame, among other accolades. He also captured silver medals in 1,500-metre races at the 1967 Oslo Bislett Games and 1967 World University Games (now Universiade) in Tokyo, and bronze in the mile at the 1967 Pan-Pacific Games in Winnipeg.

In addition, David ran the mile at the 1966 Commonwealth Games in Kingston, Jamaica, and the 1968 Olympics but did not medal."

A Brief Bailey Bibliography

Obituaries: (with some excerpts)

1.  Dr. David George Bailey, PhD, Mar. 17, 1945 - Aug. 27, 2022,
Westview Funeral Chapel
"David distinguished himself for two very different reasons in the world of international running, as well as food-drug research.  On June 11th, 1966, in San Diego, CA, he became Canada’s first sub-four minute miler in a time of 3:59.1.  He sought to top this a year later on July 22, 1967, this time in his home town of Toronto, ON, in a time of 3:57.7.  Later in his life, while working on a clinical pharmacology study between a blood pressure lowering drug and alcohol, he discovered the bizarre reaction between some medications and grapefruit juice.  So if you ever see a little sticker on your medicine bottle saying “don’t take with grapefruit juice” you can thank Dr. Bailey."

2.   "David Bailey, Olympian and Pharmacologist Who Discovered the Grapefruit Effect, Dead at Age 77," Monte Stewart, Globe and Mail, Sept. 23, 2022.

"In the late 1980s, Dr. Bailey, an Olympic runner-turned-pharmacologist, was researching the effects of alcohol on the blood-pressure medication felodipine. Seeking to disguise the alcohol’s taste in his experiment, he tried combining it with grapefruit juice and stumbled upon the fact that his subjects’ consumption of the juice resulted in a greater concentration of the drug in their bloodstreams. He went on to discover that grapefruit juice has this effect because it inhibits an enzyme (CYP3A4) in the human gut that breaks down the medication, so the body consequently absorbs a larger than normal amount of the medication."

   At the end of 2022, Dr. Bailey is also mentioned in this G&M article:
"22 Influential People Who Died in 2022..." Dec. 31, 2022.

"David Bailey improved countless lives because of a discovery he made by accident.

3.  "Pharmacologist and Olympian David Bailey Dies at 77," Lisa Winter, The Scientist, Oct. 7, 2022.

"A few years later, Bailey was studying the interactions between alcohol and felodipine, a blood pressure medication. In one clinical trial, he tried using fruit juice to cover up the sharp taste of the alcohol before giving it to participants. He noticed that those who had the juice had much higher concentrations of the drug in their blood afterward, though it wasn’t clear at first whether it was the alcohol or the juice creating the odd reaction.

“So I decided to do a pilot study, on me, to find out,” he told Inside, a publication of the London Health Services Centre, in 2013. “Once I took the drug with water, then I took it with grapefruit juice. My drug levels were five times higher with grapefruit juice. That was a big eureka moment.”

   For a good, long article about grapefruit and Dr. Bailey see this interesting article:

"Grapefruit Is One Of The Weirdest Fruits on The Planet: From Its Name, To Its Hazy Origins, To Its Drug Interactions, There's A Lot Going On Beneath That Thick Rind," Dan Nosowitz, Atlas Obscura, Oct. 6, 2020. It begins this way:

"IN 1989, DAVID BAILEY, A researcher in the field of clinical pharmacology (the study of how drugs affect humans), accidentally stumbled on perhaps the biggest discovery of his career, in his lab in London, Ontario. Follow-up testing confirmed his findings, and today there is not really any doubt that he was correct. “The hard part about it was that most people didn’t believe our data, because it was so unexpected,” he says. “A food had never been shown to produce a drug interaction like this, as large as this, ever.”

Some Local Articles:

  There is not yet a notice about Dr. Bailey's death on the Western website, but there have been articles about him over the years. Here are some samples.

"Grapefruit-Medication Interactions Increasing," London Health Sciences Centre, Nov. 6, 2012.

"The number of prescription drugs that can have serious adverse effects from interactions with grapefruit are markedly increasing, yet many physicians may be unaware of these effects, states an article published in CMAJ.  The article, a review by the researchers who discovered the interactions more than 20 years ago, summarizes evidence to help clinicians better understand the serious effects this common food can have when consumed with certain prescription drugs."

"Grapefruit Part of a Deadly Mix," Adela Talbot, Western News, Dec. 6, 2012.

"That glass of grapefruit juice you usually have with breakfast isn’t as healthy as you think – if you’re taking certain medications, that is. Perhaps you already knew that.“We discovered the interaction 20 years ago. The science of grapefruit-drug interaction has been extensively studied.The science of the (interaction) is well known, but I don’t think it has been applied the way it needs to be now,” said David

Bailey, professor emeritus in the Schulich School of Medicine& Dentistry’s Division of Clinical Pharmacology.Bailey, along with colleagues George Dresser 

and J. Malcolm Arnold, recently published "Grapefruit-medication interactions: Forbidden fruit or avoidable consequences?"

  In 2015 there was a contest by the Council of Ontario Universities' Research Matters to determine research that was "Game-Changing". Here are the ones suggested for UWO and Bailey's is among them:

Dr. Charles Drake (1958) - Developed surgical techniques on the repair of ruptured brain aneurysms.

Dr. David Bailey (1991) - Discovered the dangerous interactions between grapefruit and certain medications.

Dr. Fred Possmayer (1981) - Developed a safe way to extract, purify and sterilize surfactant from animals for use in humans, in particular premature babies suffering from respiratory distress.

Dr. Murray Barr (1948) - Co-discovered an inactive chromatin, known as the Barr Body, linked to genetic disorders such as Down’s, Klinefelter’s and Turner syndromes. This led to a simple diagnostic test for certain genetic abnormalities.

Dr. Henry Barnett (1978) - Led a large international clinical trial to show that Aspirin prevents strokes, changing the way doctors managed heart disease.

Drs. Charles Beer and Robert Noble (1958) - Isolated vincaleukablastine, a powerful anti-cancer drug, from the Madagascar periwinkle plant. The drug turned out to be one of the most useful chemotherapeutic agents.

It should be noted that this bibliography is far from complete and is focused more on articles about Dr. Bailey and not on those articles which he authored.

The Bonus:

   If you on prescribed meds and want to learn more see:

Canadian - "The Effects of Grapefruit and Its Juice On Certain Drugs."
U.S. - "Grapefruit Juice and Some Drugs Don't Mix."
   "Grapefruit and Medication: A Cautionary Note," Harvard Health Publishing, Mar. 30, 2021. 

   The Wikipedia entry is under - "Grapefruit -- Drug Interactions."

Western and the Hilborn Issue

 

   Professor Kenneth Hilborn was a member of the History Department at the University of Western Ontario (now Western University) for many years. When he died, he bequeathed a significant amount of money to the University, most of which is used to fund scholarships for prospective students of history. To those scholarships, his name is attached. 

  Two recent articles indicate that Western University has undertaken a court action to have his name removed from those scholarships. The reprehensible Professor Emeritus held views that are now not acceptable.

   If there is any debate about the action of the University, up at the University, I am unaware of it. It could simply be that Professor Hilborn was an awful person, or perhaps it is that no one wants to publicly challenge those who think Hilborn horrible. It is not a good time to come to the defence of someone whose views are so at odds with the Zeitgeist which exists, at least on college campuses. Hilborn’s always were.

   There is no doubt that Professor Hilborn was a zealous, right-wing, very anti-communist conservative. The degree to which he was a ‘racist’ is more debatable as is the contention that he opposed LGBTQ rights, as well as the assertion that he caused “epistemic violence by suppressing, dismissing and trivializing people who were oppressed, vulnerable or discriminated against.” 

   Apparently those words are found in a document produced by a research group in Western’s history department, which is at odds with another history department document produced a few years ago when Hilborn first became an issue. It has been suggested that the new criticism from within the department is what led the University to seek to remove Hilborn’s name.

   The first two simple paragraphs are basically correct, but the issue is a complex one better examined by others. I think it is worth doing so and will provide all you need to proceed. Background about Hilborn and the donation is included below, as well as the articles which attack Hilborn. The response to those attacks by Professor Francine McKenzie, a professor at Western, is a good one I think, and, among other things, indicates that there are no stipulations with the scholarships that suggest that students have to devote themselves to studying only the types of revolting ideas promoted by Professor Hilborn. I also don’t think it likely that Professor Hilborn insisted that the Department agree with his ideas when the money was given or that it endorse his ideas after he was gone.

   I am interested in this because I am assuming that the University is asking for Hilborn’s name to be removed, but has no intention of relinquishing the money. I find that baffling and wonder if Western would have pursued this course if Hilborn had any remaining relatives. If his name is unacceptable, then his money should be as well.

   I also will declare an interest. I was a student in the History Department at Western and also was an employee of the University. I knew Hilborn as well as anybody, which means I knew him not at all. He lived alone and was regarded by many as a rather “odd duck.” He walked from south London to the north with a briefcase in one hand and the newspaper in the other which he read as he walked. He was thought to be wealthy (and obviously was), knew about Krugerrands, but clearly never spent any to update his wardrobe.

   He was outspoken and frequently confronted those who were opposed to the Vietnam war or those who wished to divest from South Africa. If you want to know what he thought you simply have to look at his letters to Western News and I have included one sample from the hundreds he wrote. If you would like to examine some of his arguments, they are plainly on display and you will see also from the many rejoinders he produced, that he was a tough guy to argue with. His views were well known, but I am sure that if he had pushed and promoted them excessively in the classroom or inflicted punishing grades on those who disagreed, purely on ideological grounds, the department would have heard about it. 

   He taught a course on “Totalitarianism” and I am pretty sure he was against it. One has to at least admire his prescience and if he were alive today he would have a chance to see it in action on campus.

Sources:

Information About Professor Hilborn and the Scholarships:

In Memoriam: 2013
In memoriam - Kenneth Hilborn (posted Dec. 11)
Professor Emeritus Kenneth Hilborn, who retired in 1997 from Western's Department of History, died peacefully at home in London, Ontario, on Thursday, November 21 in his 79th year. Prior to his retirement Professor Hilborn had 36 years of service at Western where he taught courses in International Relations. Professor Hilborn was a graduate of Queen's University (Kingston) and the University of Oxford. He was the son of the late Harry W. Hilborn and the late Marguerite Mary Carr Hilborn. Cremation has taken place. Internment at Mount Pleasant Cemetery. Expressions of sympathy may be made through London Cremation Services (519) 672-0459 or online at www.londoncremation.com

The Donation Announcement, 2016. 

The Donation Announcement, Sept, 1, 2016

“Donation From the Estate of Professor Ken Hilborn Creates Awards for History Students,” Western Social Science News and Updates, Sept.1, 2016.

The Recent Articles about "The Hilborn Issue:"

“Western University Seeks Court Approval to Rename Scholarships Honouring 'racist' Professor: Late London Prof Spoke out Against Multiculturalism, Feminism, Student Activism, LGBTQ Rights,” by Colin Butler, CBC NEWS, Sept. 7, 2022.

"Western University is seeking permission from an Ontario court to remove the name of an emeritus history professor from six academic prizes funded by his estate following criticism that he espoused radical, racist views."

“Western Seeking to Remove ‘racist’ Professor’s Name From 6 Scholarships,” Estella Ren, The Gazette, Sept. 8, 2022

The Criticism of Hilborn and the Scholarships:

“University Donations and the Legitimization of Far-Right Views,” Asa McKercher, Active History, Sept. 14, 2019.
This article is cited in the CBC article noted above. Professor McKercher is in the History Department at the Royal Military College.  He notes that Hilborn did not publish enough and that what he did publish would not have been accepted in respected academic publications. He does make a good point at the conclusion about universities having to be careful of donors with "questionable motives", but apparently Hilborn's was to "reward academic achievement amongst history students."

“Congress 2020, Interrupted: Racism and Commemoration in Western University’s Department of History,” Will Langford, Active History, May 5, 2020.
This essay is also cited in the CBC article. Professor Langford thinks Hilborn was a racist, associated too closely with unsavoury characters on the far right, and a supporter of "Western Civ." Prof. Langford argues that those on the right, mix up and conflate academic freedom and free speech. It is worth reading his related articles which touch upon Rushton and Jordan Peterson. 
See: “Congress 2020, Interrupted: Racism, Academic Freedom, and the Far Right, 1970s-1990s,” Active History, 28 April 2020, https://activehistory.ca/2020/04/congress-2020-interrupted-racism-academic-freedom-and-the-far-right-1970s-1990s/ 
“Congress 2020, Interrupted: A Brief History of University Codes of Conduct,” Active History, 21 April 2020, https://activehistory.ca/2020/04/congress-2020-a-brief-history-of-university-codes-of-conduct/

I did not and do not agree with most of Hilborn's views, but feel strongly that he had the right to express them. My views about free speech and academic freedom are less nuanced than Professor Langford's and they are expressed here: "Free Speech & Ontario Universities."

The Response to the Criticisms by Professor McKenzie:

“Western’s History Department and the Hilborn Student Awards,” Francine McKenzie, Active History, May 7, 2020.
"While Hilborn was a faculty member, his controversial and objectionable views provoked critical responses from faculty and students.  Few current members of the History Department knew Ken Hilborn or were aware of his political and personal beliefs. After Asa McKercher’s essay appeared in Active History in September 2019, the department discussed the implications of having student awards created through his bequest and decided that the awards should stay."

A Sample of One of Hilborn's Letters to Western News:
    

   Those who wish to examine Hilborn's opinions have the opportunity to do so by visiting the Western News website. The folks at Western Libraries' Archives and Special Collections are to be commended for digitizing the print issues which go back to the early 1970s. 

    The issues are searchable and the results are always interesting. The "Letters to the Editor" section is particularly useful for those interested in the thoughts and ideas expressed by faculty and students in the latter part of the last century and the first part of this one. The "Letters" seem to have ceased around the time the Western News became digital in 2018.

    That may not be such a loss. I doubt that those on campus would feel as free to express themselves these days. Plus it may also be the case that faculty have less time to write letters which help not at all in advancing careers. The Hilborn critics often attack him for his polemicizing and for not publishing more academic articles, but students surely learned more from the letters published and rebutted than the academic articles printed and they were more widely read.

   

   Here is an example of an exchange between Hilborn and another faculty member over the South African issue. Presented first is a letter challenging one of Hilborn's earlier letters. Hilborn's rejoinder follows. There are many such letters and rejoinders and they are usually even longer.

   Here is the link to the Western News Archive. 

Baguley Letter _ Nov. 3, 1988, p.4.
Both 'a sustained argument' and 'a source of wonder...'

 Dear Sir: New readers of Western News should be warned that periodically dull and predictable letters from Kenneth H. W. Hilborn appear in this column defending the regime of South Africa as a bulwark against communism. Hilborn's recent effort (20 October 1988) has at least the merit of presenting a sustained argument (against 'divestment'), for what it is worth. It also has the merit of containing an analysis of the plight of what he calls the 'economically vulnerable mass' of black South Africans. Yet it is a source of wonder why, with the economically and politically invulnerable advantages of a professor's salary, tenure and a free society, he should not be more sympathetic to their plight and should be so resolute in justifying the status quo in the regime that oppresses them. David Baguley, French Department.

Hilborn Letter Nov. 10, 1988, p.4

Critics fail to challenge accuracy, logic of case 

Dear Sir: To borrow some of the phraseology used by David Baguley in attacking me (letter, Nov. 3), "new readers of Western News should be warned" that letters like Baguley's, criticizing me and misrepresenting what! have written, "periodically ... appear in this column." 

   The most conspicuous characteristic shared by most (if not all) of these letters is their authors' failure to challenge either the accuracy of the information I cite or the logic I use in drawing conclusions from the evidence presented. My critics prefer instead to condemn me, as Baguley does, for being "dull" — or something equally irrelevant to the issue under discussion. At least in a university, if not on a political platform, it is surely more important to be accurate and logical than to avoid being dull. 

   Occasionally, critics also condemn me for "defending" somebody wicked —even when I have said nothing whatever about the actually or allegedly wicked people in question. Thus Baguley accuses me of "defending the regime of South Africa" and "justifying the status quo in the regime," even though my two recent letters opposing "divestment" (published by Western News on Sept. 29 and Oct. 20) contain not a single reference to that government, nor a single argument "justifying" South Africa's domestic status quo.

    In the 1950s, some American politicians used to suggest that any opponent of various hard-line anti-Communist policies must be a supporter of communism. Baguley has borrowed this McCarthyite technique and adapted it to his own purposes, by implying that opposition to divestment means support for apartheid. It is disappointing to find an academic displaying no more respect than politicians do for intellectual distinctions. I am mystified by Baguley's contention that I should be "more sympathetic" to the plight of economically vulnerable South African blacks. I have argued repeatedly against economic sanctions, including bans on investment that would inevitably inflict further hardships on these vulnerable people — sanctions that they themselves (as distinct from well-fed "leaders") clearly oppose. Does Baguley imagine that those willing to see blacks suffer from greater unemployment are expressing sympathy for them more effectively? 

   Finally, I hope that Baguley (whose specialty is French) will endeavor to improve his style in English. His letter contains this sequence of words: ". . that periodically dull and predictable letters from Kenneth H. W. Hilborn appear in this column. . ." I believe Baguley meant not that my letters are periodically dull and predictable, but rather that my dull and predictable letters appear periodically. When an adverb is intended to modify a verb, I think it better to place the adverb in close proximity to the verb rather than before an adjective more than half a dozen words away. We faculty members should set the students a good example in these matters.

Kenneth H.W. Hilborn

Department of History 

Post Script:

  If the old issues relating to the Vietnam war and South Africa are not of interest to you, but newer ones like the BDS Movement and the Middle East are, then do a search for "Hilborn and Chomsky." In 1987, Chomsky was invited to speak as an alternative to Henry Kissinger who wanted the USC to pay him $31,000. The debate that ensued between groups such as Hillel, UWO Canadians Concerned For the Middle East and others, will be of interest to those concerned with more recent political problems.

The Bonus:

  For two assessments of members of the UWO History Department whose characters are not questioned see: N.S.B.Gras and Wallace Klippert Ferguson.

  As for the matter of character questioning, here are two quotes I provided in a post about "Historical Censoriousness":

" Yet we need to be charitable about the moral failings of our ancestors - not as an act of charity to them but as an act of charity to ourselves.  Our own unconscious assumptions and cultural habits are doubtless just as impregnated with bias as theirs were. We should be kind to them, as we ask the future to be kind to us."

and

“The dispensing of moral judgments upon people or upon actions in retrospect,” wrote Butterfield, is the “most useless and unproductive of all forms of reflection.”