THE CANADIAN CORRESPONDENTMATTHEW HALTON

About Matthew Halton

Matthew Henry Halton (1904 – 1956) was a Canadian television journalist, most famous as a foreign correspondent for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) during World War II.

Early Years

• Born in Pincher Creek, Alberta, Canada• Halton attended teachers college in Calgary and

taught school for several years.• Attended the University of Alberta in Edmonton• Gained experience reporting and editing for

The Gateway while at U of A.• Went to London, England to study at King's

College London and at the London School of Economics.

• Wrote extensively on European affairs for Canadian newspapers.

Toronto Star Correspondent

• He briefly returned to Canada in 1931.• returned to Europe as a correspondent

for the Toronto Star. • He covered such issues as the rise of

Nazism in Germany, the Spanish Civil War and the Winter War; with the Munich Crisis of 1938, he began filing reports for CBC Radio as well.

CBC

• He briefly returned to Canada in 1931.• returned to Europe as a correspondent

for the Toronto Star. • He covered such issues as the rise of

Nazism in Germany, the Spanish Civil War and the Winter War; with the Munich Crisis of 1938, he began filing reports for CBC Radio as well.

The German Series

“Germany enters a nightmare. I feel it in my bones.”— Matthew Halton, Toronto Star, March 1933

The German Series was Halton’s greatest accomplishment.

Matthew and wife Jean Halton at Berlin's Brandenburg Gate, Sept. 1933. Halton's 30-part German Series for the Toronto Star was described as "the most informative, most damnning, most crushing expose of what Hitlerism means that has been penned by any foreign correspondent."

The German Series

• In early September 1933, Matt returned to Germany for an extended two-month assignment.

• the German Series are 30 reports that chronicled almost every defining aspect of Nazi Germany.

CBC's senior war correspondent

• covered the North African campaign. • reported extensively for the CBC over the

next two years.• briefly returned to Canada to write and

publish the memoir Ten Years to Alamein. In 1943, he was named the CBC's senior war correspondent, returning to London and covering all aspects of the final two years of the war.

CBC's senior war correspondent cont.

• After the end of World War II, he remained in Europe as the network's senior foreign correspondent, covering the Nuremberg Trials, the funeral of King George VI, the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II and the 1954 Geneva Conference, among other stories.

Final Year

• In 1956, Halton received an honorary doctorate from the University of Alberta.

• He died several months later, following stomach surgery.

• Halton's son David later became CBC Television's chief political correspondent.

• His daughter Kathleen married influential British theatre critic Kenneth Tynan, and later established her own career as a writer.

Legacy

Matthew Halton High School in Halton’s home town of Pincher Creek, Alberta is named after him.

For more info

Click the image below for more info on the German Series