Lisa Hrabluk

David Williams, the long-time wise man of the Saint John Times-Globe and New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal newsrooms, has released a collection of his favourite stories and columns, entitled When Headlines Spoke in Capital Letters.

It’s a delightful book that illustrates not just what Saint John was once like, but also what great newspaper writing can accomplish.

David’s gift is his ability to draw his reader into each of these stories – some now over 40 years old – with language that feels fresh and inviting. He tweaks and prods the powerful and the pompous with the wit of a truly talented wordsmith.

Take for example, his May 13, 1972 column, “Booze and Business” about city councillors coming to council meetings drunk:

Of course, I would never write a column about it.

To mention liquor and a Common Council meeting in the same connection – even to hint at it by implication – would be unthinkable.

To even to attempt to answer such questions would call for the care and caution of a novice animal tamer in a cage full of lions and tigers.

David, of course, does answer the question and as I read that column, I pictured him at his typewriter in the old Times Globe office, with sleeves rolled up, wearing that half-smile you see on the face of every journalist when they are writing something that sings.

I know David, ever so slightly. He was the letters to the editors page editor and the stamp columnist when I arrived at the Crown Street newsroom in August 1997. I was a business writer for the Telegraph-Journal in those days and so I didn’t have a lot of opportunities to talk to the quiet, well-mannered and always immaculately dressed Mr. Williams.

As someone new to the newspaper and to New Brunswick, I didn’t know anyone’s back story, a distinct disadvantage when trying to build relationships in the Maritimes. So, I wasn’t aware that David had once dined on T-bone steaks with Tommy Hunter, had climbed to the top of the Harbour Bridge to take in the view and had engaged in a thoughtful conversation with the new Catholic bishop about celibacy and the role of women in the Church.

I do know that now, thanks to When Headlines Spoke in Capital Leaders.

But I’ll tell you what I did know.

I knew that David Williams stood apart in that newsroom.

That he was afforded a level of deference and respect that only one other person, the late Glen Allen, received from the staff and managers of that paper.

That he never raised his voice because he never had to.

That he listened with great patience and respect to every person who called him to harangue and harumph either him or their target of disdain.

And I knew that when I wanted to know something about Saint John or New Brunswick, David would have the answer or would know who did.

When Headlines Spoke in Capital Letters is a wonderful discovery.

Treat yourself to some great stories, told by a pretty damn good writer.

You can order the book directly from David at www.DavidWilliamsReports.com

It is also available at UNB’s Inprint Bookstore on King Street in Uptown Saint John and at local Coles and Indigo Bookstores.