In 1943 Boss was shipping overseas to Italy with the Canadian Corps as a Public Relations Officer, in charge of escorting journalists to the front lines. In 1937 Boss moved to Toronto, where we worked as a correspondent for the Times of London and in 1938 worked for them in London for several months, after which Boss returned to Ottawa and obtained a bachelor of arts at the University of Ottawa in 1941. Boss obtained a philosophy degree at Lisgar Collegiate Institute in Ottawa, where he also founded the Ottawa Concert Orchestra and worked part-time as a journalist for the Ottawa Citizen. He was also a musician who played the piano and organ, as well as composed music and conducted numerous symphony orchestras in Ottawa, as well as in Italy and the Netherlands later. He ate censors for breakfast." īoss was born in Kingston, Ontario on and died of pneumonia at the age of 90 on Octoin Ottawa.Įducation, music and early reporting īoss spoke many languages, including English, French, Italian, German, Dutch and Russian, as well as a little Korean and Japanese. Colleagues described him as the toughest war correspondent they have ever known, and Pierre Berton is quoted saying that Bill "was as fiery as his red beard. He was known for his work in World War II and the Korean War, and for his famous ginger beard. But they couldn't forget a man with a red beard.William Boss (– October 17, 2007) was a Canadian war correspondent and reporter for the Canadian Press, commonly known as Bill Boss or "bb" (his wire initials). ![]() "My feeling was that brass hats might be interviewed by umpteen correspondents and never remember one of them. "As soon as the appointment was made official and I was free of army red tape, I grew a beard. "It was a terrific break for me," he would say later. Boss would spend the rest of the war in those duties, spending months in 1944-45 covering Canadian troops in the overlooked Italian theater before moving on to the Netherlands near the end of the war. “Bill” Boss, army public relations officer from Ottawa, has become known as ‘deputy mayor of Ortona.’Ī little over a month later, CP chief Gil Purcell somehow managed to convince the army to turn him loose and join the wire service as a correspondent. The priests know him, the town doctor knows him, he gets stopped in the streets to engage in frequent chatter with the high and the low. The Canadian Press wrote a short feature on him in May 1944 that began: He taught himself Italian, thereby becoming even more valuable to all as an interpreter, and generally ingratiated himself with everyone. He also did music criticism during that stint.īoss joined the Canadian Army in 1940, serving in a variety of roles before finding a niche in public relations, which eventually found him accompanying Canadian troops and correspondents in Sicily and Italy. He moved to Toronto in May 1937 to work for The Times of London, then headed to England in January 1938 as a reporter and editor at the newspaper’s main office for several months. Bill Boss has the qualification to make a successful conductor.īoss remained devoted to music, but he chose journalism as his profession. The Ottawa Musical Students’ Concert Orchestra has made such a promising beginning that its progress will be watched with interest and a good deal expected from it. Armstrong called it “inconceivable” that the group could play so well after only a couple of months of rehearsals.īill Boss gets his musicians to build up crescendoes and decrease tone evenly, and dramatically if this is desired. In a December 1936 review of an early performance, Ottawa Citizen critic Isabel C. ![]() When he was 19, Boss organized the Ottawa Musical Students’ Concert Orchestra - later shortened to Ottawa Concert Orchestra - whose members had to be 19 or younger. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York - and arranged and composed music, in addition to conducting. Piano was his primary instrument, but he also played the organ - once getting behind the keys at St. In addition to English, he spoke French, Italian, German, Dutch and Russian, plus some Korean and Japanese picked up during his time covering the Korean War. His Canadian Press obituary would describe him as “something of a Renaissance man,” a characterization that is difficult to dispute. They surely offered a welcome break from the day job he held during the final year of the war in Europe as a correspondent for the Canadian Press.īill Boss, as his byline read, was born in Kingston, Ontario. Bill Boss at work in Rome, January 27, 1945Ĭonsidering Boss’ background in music, which included founding and leading the Ottawa Concert Orchestra back home in Canada, such assignments were well in his comfort zone.
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