RIP Pierre Berton

The CBC reports that one of Canada’s most important writers, Pierre Berton, has passed away at the age of 84:

Berton, who wrote 50 books, was known for compelling, readable histories like 1970’s ‘The National Dream ‘ and 1971’s ‘The Last Spike’. He died Tuesday afternoon from heart failure.

Here’s a great video interview from 1975 (with an extremely surly and prim Mary Lou Finlay). His voice is remarkably familiar to me. In addition to being an excellent broadcaster, novelist and historian, he was always up for a bit of fun.