 Wilfrid Eggleston OBE ( 25 March 1901 – 13 June 1986 ) was an Anglo @-@ Canadian journalist , author and civil servant . Born in Lincoln to middle @-@ class English parents , he relocated to Netherfield , Nottinghamshire where his father was convinced to move the family to a ranch in Orion , Alberta . Suffering from boredom in his teenage years , Eggleston advanced his basic English education through a fast @-@ track course at Regina College , which qualified his entrance to Queen 's University in 1926 . Graduating in 1928 , he found journalistic work at the Lethbridge Herald before occupying his role as Ottawa correspondent for the Toronto Star by the following year , becoming parliamentary correspondent before his resignation in 1936 . 
