We won't refer to the late Lister Sinclair as an icon or a renaissance man. He did not like these words being used to describe him. He was a broadcaster, playwright and a public intellectual. In Canada he was widely known as the host of the CBC radio program Ideas.Lister Sinclair died this week at the age of 85.
Born in India and raised in England he brought a sharp intellect and world view to the topics he explored, everything from the arts, to mathematics, geography and global politics, big and small.
This typist spend many evenings hunched over the keyboard with Lister Sinclair's gentle radio voice in the backdrop. For years, I wondered why they always introduced him as Mr. Sinclair. I wondered if he had a first name. In a funny way, Mr. Sinclair seemed a title befitting the man. And it still is.
He was a model for what public broadcasting can be and should be. He will be greatly missed.
