Clyde William Sanger MA (20 November 1928 – 20 January 2022) was an English-Canadian journalist and author. He worked on newspapers in the UK and Africa before becoming the first Africa correspondent for ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' newspaper in 1960. He moved to North America in 1965, where he continued to work as a journalist, as well as for various Canadian and international research and development institutes. He wrote extensively on politics, economics, international development, the environment and other subjects throughout his long career. He lived in

Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

, Canada.

Early life and education

Sanger studied at

Twyford School Twyford School is a co-educational, private, preparatory boarding and day school, located in the village of Twyford, Hampshire, England. History Twyford states itself to be the oldest preparatory school in the United Kingdom. It moved to its ...

(1938 to 1942) and

Shrewsbury School Shrewsbury School is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school in Shrewsbury. Founded in 1552 by Edward VI by royal charter, to replace the town's Saxon collegiate foundations which were disestablished in the sixteenth century, Shrewsb ...

(1942 to 1947), where he was Head of School. He spent 1947 to 1949 doing his

National Service National service is a system of compulsory or voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act ...

on the

Suez Canal The Suez Canal (; , ') is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, Indo-Mediterranean, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea through the Isthmus of Suez and dividing Africa and Asia (and by extension, the Sinai Peninsula from the rest ...

as a second lieutenant in the

4th Royal Tank Regiment The 4th Royal Tank Regiment (4 RTR) was an armoured regiment of the British Army from its creation in 1917, during World War I, until 1993. It was part of the Royal Tank Regiment, itself part of the Royal Armoured Corps. History The regiment or ...

. He then studied at

Brasenose College Brasenose College (BNC) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It began as Brasenose Hall in the 13th century, before being founded as a college in 1509. The library and chapel were added in the m ...

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

(1949 to 1952).

Professional work

Sanger spent his early career as a reporter for the '' Staffordshire Evening Sentinel'', the ''

London Evening News The ''London Evening News'' was an evening newspaper published in London beginning on 14 August 1855. It was cheap, at a halfpenny per issue. It changed its name to ''The Day'' but "gave a poor news service", and had failed by 1859. Sources ...

'' and the ''

Daily Mail The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily Middle-market newspaper, middle-market Tabloid journalism, tabloid conservative newspaper founded in 1896 and published in London. , it has the List of newspapers in the United Kingdom by circulation, h ...

''. In 1957 he moved to

Southern Rhodesia Southern Rhodesia was a self-governing British Crown colony in Southern Africa, established in 1923 and consisting of British South Africa Company (BSAC) territories lying south of the Zambezi River. The region was informally known as South ...

(now

Zimbabwe file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...

) and became editor of a magazine on politics and economics, ''The Central African Examiner''. In 1959 he joined ''The Guardian'' newspaper, becoming their first Africa correspondent in 1960. His work focused mainly on Central, Southern and Eastern Africa, and from 1957 to 1965 he covered news stories of a social, economic, environmental and political nature, getting to know nationalist leaders such as

Joshua Nkomo Joshua Mqabuko Nyongolo Nkomo (19 June 1917 – 1 July 1999) was a Zimbabwean revolutionary and politician who served as Vice-President of Zimbabwe from 1990 until his death in 1999. He founded and led the Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU) ...

and

Ndabaningi Sithole Ndabaningi Sithole (21 July 1920 – 12 December 2000) was a Zimbabwean politician and statesman who was the founder of the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU), a militant, nationalist organisation that opposed the government of Rhodesia, in ...

of Zimbabwe, Dr. Hastings (Kumuzu) Banda of Malawi, and

Kenneth Kaunda Kenneth Kaunda (28 April 1924 – 17 June 2021), also known as KK, was a Zambian politician who served as the first president of Zambia from 1964 to 1991. He was at the forefront of the struggle for independence from Northern Rhodesia, British ...

Zambia Zambia, officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa. It is typically referred to being in South-Central Africa or Southern Africa. It is bor ...

. Sanger's words were quoted in the UK House of Commons by

James Callaghan Leonard James Callaghan, Baron Callaghan of Cardiff ( ; 27 March 191226 March 2005) was a British statesman and Labour Party (UK), Labour Party politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1976 to 1979 and Leader of the L ...

, then MP for Cardiff South-East, in relation to the politically-motivated expulsion of

John Stonehouse John Thomson Stonehouse (28 July 192514 April 1988) was a British Labour and Co-operative Party politician, businessman and minister who was a member of the Cabinet under Prime Minister Harold Wilson. He is remembered for his unsuccessful atte ...

, MP for Wednesbury, from Rhodesia and Nyasaland. The sometimes dangerous nature of life as a journalist is described in an entertaining memoir by Peter Rand, in an episode involving several Western journalists including Sanger, at the time of the

Zanzibar Revolution The Zanzibar Revolution (; ) began on 12 January 1964 and led to the overthrow of the Sultan of Zanzibar Jamshid bin Abdullah and his mainly Arab government by the island's majority Black African population. Zanzibar was an ethnically di ...

in 1963. Sanger moved to North America in 1965, and worked as UN correspondent and Canada correspondent for ''The Guardian'', Parliamentary reporter for

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Newspapers in Canada, Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in Western Canada, western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of more than 6 million in 2024, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on week ...

, and Canada correspondent for ''

The Economist ''The Economist'' is a British newspaper published weekly in printed magazine format and daily on Electronic publishing, digital platforms. It publishes stories on topics that include economics, business, geopolitics, technology and culture. M ...

''; he also contributed regularly to the Gemini News Service. In addition, he served as a Governor of NewsConcern International Foundation, Director of Information for The

Commonwealth Secretariat The Commonwealth Secretariat is the main intergovernmental agency and central institution of the Commonwealth of Nations. It is responsible for facilitating co-operation between members; organising meetings, including the Commonwealth Heads of ...

, Director of Communications for the North-South Institute, and adjunct professor in the School of Journalism and Communication,

Carleton University Carleton University is an English-language public university, public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1942 as Carleton College, the institution originally operated as a private, non-denominational evening college to se ...

. Later in his career he also taught MA students at the

University for Peace The University for Peace (UPEACE) is an international university and intergovernmental organization established as a treaty organisation by the United Nations General Assembly in 1980. The university offers postgraduate, doctoral, and executive ...

Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...

Publications

Sanger wrote prolifically on the subjects of African and Canadian politics, the

Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the 15th century. Originally a phrase (the common-wealth ...

, international development, and the environment, as reflected in the following list of publications.

Books

* ''Central African Emergency'', Toronto: Heinemann, 1960. * ''Half a loaf; Canada's semi-role among developing countries'', Toronto: Ryerson Press, 1969. * ''Bread and better things'', Ottawa: International Development Research Centre, 1975. * ''Project Impact: a progress report on Innotech Project Impact in the Philippines and Proyek Pamong in Indonesia'', Ottawa: International Development Research Centre, 1977. * ''Trees for people: an account of the forestry research program supported by the International Development Research Centre'', Ottawa: International Development Research Centre, 1977. * ''The politics of human survival: a report on the United Nations Parliamentary Forum, 21–23 September'', New York: Parliamentarians for World Order, 1981. * ''Safe and sound: disarmament and development in the eighties'', London: Zed Press, 1982. * ''Politicians for peace: a report on the work of Parliamentarians for World Order'', New York: Parliamentarians For World Order, 1982. * ''Stitches in Time: the Commonwealth in world politics'', with Arnold Smith, Canada, 1983. * ''Three strands of rope'', Ottawa: International Development Research Centre, c.1983. * ''Global action for survival: a report on the work of Parliamentarians for World Order'', New York: Parliamentarians for World Order, c.1983. * ''Ordering the oceans: the making of the Law of the Sea'', London: Zed Press, 1986. * ''Lotta and the Unitarian Service Committee story'', Toronto: Stoddard, 1986. A biography of Lotta Hitschmanova, Canadian humanitarian. * ''Canadians and the United Nations'', Ottawa: Communications and Culture Branch, Department of External Affairs, 1988. * ''Namibia, fraud or freedom?'' Ottawa: International Defence and Aid Fund Canadian Committee, 1989. * ''Namibia: the black man's burden'', with David Stafford, Toronto: Canadian Institute of International Affairs, 1990. * ''Travels with a laptop: Canadian journalists head south: an anthology'', (ed.) Ottawa: North-South Institute, 1994. * ''The role of elections in societal reconciliation'', Halifax: Dalhousie University, 1995. * ''Malcolm MacDonald: bringing an end to empire'', Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, 1995. * ''Glories of the Glebe: 42 conversations with friends'', A collection of articles from the ''Glebe Report'', Ottawa, 2008. * ''Coming of age in Kentucky : politicians, editors ... and mermaids'', Ottawa, 2019. A memoir based on a diary Sanger kept during a visit to Kentucky, USA, in 1954.

Articles (selection available online)

* 'Toward Unity in Africa', ''Foreign Affairs'', January 1964. * 'The Beatles on fringe of a riot', ''The Guardian'', 17 August 1966. * 'The high cost of 'free' trade', book review, ''The Globe and Mail'', 28 June 2003. * 'Lesson for Kenya: Know when to go', 9 January 2008. * 'Newspeak in the 21st Century', book review, ''Media Lens'', 4 January 2011. A rare insight into Sanger's lifetime of experience as a journalist, as he reviews a book about journalism written by non-journalists. * 'People of the Glebe: Flora McDonald', ''Glebe Report'', Ottawa, 19 September 2014.

Personal and family life

Sanger married the journalist and activist Penny Ketchum (1931-2017) in

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

, in June 1959; they had four sons (Matthew, Richard, Toby and Daniel) and ten grandchildren (Ariel, Maeve, Malcolm, Claire, Louis, Tommy, Alia, Adam, Antoine and Eliza). In his later years he enjoyed writing poetry, some of which was published in The Glebe Report in Ottawa.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sanger, Clyde 1928 births 2022 deaths English journalists The Guardian journalists English writers Alumni of Brasenose College, Oxford Canadian newspaper journalists The Globe and Mail people The Economist people Commonwealth Secretariat Academic staff of Carleton University People educated at Twyford School People educated at Shrewsbury School English emigrants to Canada