1. It's 1929. Ernest Hemingway is in Paris. And he’s about to get his ass kicked by an author from Toronto.
2. Hemingway originally went to Paris as a foreign correspondent for the Toronto Star. And in 1923, he’d gone back to Toronto for a while — that way, his wife Hadley could have their baby with the city’s well-respected doctors.
3. It was during that trip back to Toronto that he met another promising young writer for the Star.
Morley Callaghan was just starting out, but he would go on to become one of the most beloved Canadian authors of all-time.
4. And that was in part thanks to Hemingway. When he returned to Paris, he took Callaghan’s work with him, showing it to all the most influential writers and publishers.
They loved it so much that before long, Callaghan followed his new friend to the City of Light.
5. The two writers would become even closer during that summer in Paris. And boxing had a lot to do with that.
6. Hemingway was suuuuper into boxing. Like, to a ridiculous, delusional extent. “My writing is nothing,” he once declared. “My boxing is everything.”
And, like so many things in his life, he needed to feel like he was THE expert at it.
7. He was known to belittle even the greatest fighters in the world. It wasn’t long after he loudly proclaimed that Toronto boxer Larry Gains wouldn’t amount to much that Gains became champion of the British Empire (& only denied his chance at a world title because he was Black).
8. Hemingway claimed he could be a professional boxer if he wanted to be. And he did little to quash a false rumour floating through the cafés of Paris: that he had once knocked out the French middleweight champion with a single, powerful punch.
9. In fact, Hemingway was so weirdly intense about boxing that when he first learned Callaghan fought a little, he demanded he prove it.
He pulled out a pair of gloves and challenged him to spar with him right there in his apartment.
10. Callaghan passed the test. Hemingway invited him to become his training partner. Every week, they’d faced off for a few rounds at the American Club, near where they both lived in the Latin Quarter.
11. And it became very clear very quickly that Callaghan, though smaller, was a lot better than his opponent. Week after week, Callaghan landed blow after blow. Hemingway usually came out of their matches with a bloodied mouth.
12. Turns out Hemingway couldn't have been a pro boxer after all.
“We were two amateur boxers,” Callaghan explained. “The difference between us was that he had given time and imagination to boxing; I had actually worked out a lot with good fast college boxers."
13. For the most part, Hemingway seemed to take those punches with good humour. He even joked to a local bartender: “As long as Morley can keep cutting my mouth he’ll always remain my good friend.”
14. But then again, there were signs that he might be more upset than he seemed. Like, oh, say, the time he spat a mouthful of the blood flowing from his lip right into Callaghan’s face.
And all that simmering rage was about to boil to the surface...
15. Sometimes, they'd ask someone else along to watch & serve as timekeeper. One day, it was the artist Joan Miró. Another fateful day, it was their mutual friend: F. Scott Fitzgerald.
16. By the end of the first round, Fitzgerald — who idolized Hemingway — was clearly distraught. His idol was getting soundly beaten by this small Canadian foe, his mouth bleeding yet again.
And Hemingway noticed that disappointed look on Fitzgerald’s face.
17. During the next round, Hemingway came out swinging, recklessly trying to land big punches and knock Callaghan down. Instead, it was the Canadian who landed the decisive blow, catching Hemingway full on his jaw, sprawling him out on his back.
18. A moment later the legendary friendship between Hemingway & Fitzgerald was dealt an equally crushing blow.
Fitzgerald, who had gotten caught up in the action and lost track of the time, exclaimed, "Oh, my God! I let the round go four minutes."
19. “All right, Scott,” Hemingway shot back. “If you want to see me getting the shit knocked out of me, just say so. Only don’t say you made a mistake.”
20. And that was it; Hemingway never forgave Fitzgerald. Their friendship never fully recovered. Hemingway was still complaining about that moment nearly 40 years later, in the last letter he wrote before his suicide.
21. This story is just one of the true tales of Toronto history that you'll find hidden in the streets of Paris.
I'm featuring as many as I can as part of the Toronto Dreams Project's Grand Tour of Europe — but I need your help to do it! indiegogo.com/projects/bring…
22. There are just a few hours left in the crowd-funding campaign!
With your help, I'll be leaving some of my fictional Toronto historical dreams for Hemingway & Callaghan at the spot where the boxing match happened—and sharing other places around Paris related to their lives.
23. Plus, I'll be creating a dream for that great Toronto boxer Larry Gains, too. And sharing dozens of other Toronto stories from France, Italy, Germany and Spain.
24. If you missed out on the crowd-funding campaign, but would still like to contribute, you can send a donation via PayPal. I'll be very happy to send you the same perks I offered during the campaign! paypal.me/adamtbunch
1. The Toronto Circus Riot broke out 169 years ago this weekend.
It was sparked by a brawl between circus clowns & firefighters at a Victorian brothel.
So, here's a thread about one of the strangest stories in Canadian history...
2. It was the summer of 1855 and S.B Howes' Star Troupe Menagerie & Circus had come to town.
They pitched their tents on the big Fair Green by the lake, where they planned to perform twice a day for the next two days.
There were acrobats! Trick riders! Exotic Animals! Clowns!
3. Seth Benedict Howes was one of the most respected circus owners in the business.
He's been called "the father of the American circus" — beginning as a trick rider before working with P.T. Barnum & helping to invent the whole idea of a modern travelling circus.
1. Doctor Who was created by a Canadian. The first episode aired 60 years ago today, so here's my long & wild annual thread about the guy from Toronto who created one of the most quintessentially British shows.
And how he ended up as a possible target for kidnapping by the FLQ.
2. His name was Sydney Newman. He was born in Toronto, went to Central Tech, and developed a passion for film.
His timing was perfect. In 1939, when Newman was just 21 years old, the National Film Board of Canada was created.
3. The NFB was founded to strengthen Canadian culture and national unity, making uniquely Canadian films — especially documentaries.
Newman got in on the ground floor, working as a splicer-boy editing film. And he worked his way up quickly from there.
1. This is Joseph Bloore. You might know the street named after him in Toronto. Or have even seen this disturbing photo before. But you probably don't know much about the man in it.
So here's a thread about the guy in the most infamously unsettling portrait in Toronto history...
2. Joseph Bloore was born in England in the late 1700s. But as a young man, he left, sailing across the ocean to start a new life in the Canadian colonies.
He arrived in Toronto in 1818, back when our city was still the muddy little town of York...
3. York had been founded by the British just two decades earlier — on land that had already been home to First Nations & their ancestors for thousands of years.
When Bloore arrived, York was still very much a frontier town. A rough place. And often, quite a drunk one.
1. Today is Simcoe Day in Toronto. So let's talk about John Graves Simcoe & his strange, complicated relationship with slavery.
The founder of Toronto was an avowed abolitionist... who also once fought a war to *preserve* slavery.
Here's my annual thread...
2. Simcoe was a soldier, a hero of the British side of the American Revolution.
After the war, the Brits created a colony for Loyalist American refugees — on land already home to First Nations for thousands of years.
They called it Upper Canada. And they chose Simcoe to run it.
3. Simcoe had long been a passionate abolitionist. Back home in England, he'd spoken out against slavery as an MP, giving speeches in the House of Commons.
He made it very clear he saw no place for slavery in his new colony — the place we now call Ontario...