1966 Fredericton Encaenia
Aitken, John William Maxwell
Doctor of Laws (LL.D.)
Orator: Cattley, Robert E.D.
Image
Image Caption
L to R: Colin B. Mackay, John William Maxwell Aitken
Second Image Caption
Source: UA PC-4 no.13(14); Photo by Harvey Studios
Citation:
ENCAENIA, MAY, 1966
JOHN WILLIAM MAXWELL AITKEN
to be Doctor of Laws
Sir Max Aitken, or to usurp a name long endeared to us -- Max is our late Chancellor's eldest son.
Born in Montreal, educated at Westminster and Cambridge, where he was a Soccer Blue, he went on to carve forhimself no less than four careers. The first began in 1935 when he joined the R.A.F. Auxiliary, to become a deadly fighter pilot in the Battle of Britain, and to command a night-fighter squadron and later the Strike Mosquito
Wing, Norwegian waters. He was mentioned in Dispatches and won the D.S.O., the D.F.C., and the Czech War Cross.
His second career was to sit for five years as Conservative M.P. for Holborn. The third has beento direct Beaverbrook Newspapers Ltd., which out-produce not only those of the acquisitive Baron of Fleet and Northbridge but also all the daily newspapers of Canada. The fourth is to champion and to excel in the ancient and royal sport
of sailing and the newer and noisier racing of power-boats. From the latter he now comes bearing his sheaves with him, after breaking a world record.
The virtues that shine out from these several lives are courage, leadership, determination, and an uncanny sense of direction. For the M.P. determination is probably the most desirable, although it is downgraded in other Parliaments to shutting eyes, ears, and nose, and having a thick skin. For racing one must add a sense of direction. It is prudent to know which way a yacht is pointing in mid-Atlantic, or two 50 h.p. diesels are hurtling a hull, it is vital to know which way a newspaper enterprise is heading with its 9 million circulation. Sir Max seems to know very well, and we here salute his leadership. But for pressing the attack by air, for leading flight, squadron, or wing, all four virtues merge inseparably and are indispensable.
Notwithstanding which he is proudest of being, like his father, a Canadian citizen.
From:
Cattley, Robert E.D. Honoris causa: the effervescences of a university orator. Fredericton: UNB Associated Alumnae, 1968.
JOHN WILLIAM MAXWELL AITKEN
to be Doctor of Laws
Sir Max Aitken, or to usurp a name long endeared to us -- Max is our late Chancellor's eldest son.
Born in Montreal, educated at Westminster and Cambridge, where he was a Soccer Blue, he went on to carve forhimself no less than four careers. The first began in 1935 when he joined the R.A.F. Auxiliary, to become a deadly fighter pilot in the Battle of Britain, and to command a night-fighter squadron and later the Strike Mosquito
Wing, Norwegian waters. He was mentioned in Dispatches and won the D.S.O., the D.F.C., and the Czech War Cross.
His second career was to sit for five years as Conservative M.P. for Holborn. The third has beento direct Beaverbrook Newspapers Ltd., which out-produce not only those of the acquisitive Baron of Fleet and Northbridge but also all the daily newspapers of Canada. The fourth is to champion and to excel in the ancient and royal sport
of sailing and the newer and noisier racing of power-boats. From the latter he now comes bearing his sheaves with him, after breaking a world record.
The virtues that shine out from these several lives are courage, leadership, determination, and an uncanny sense of direction. For the M.P. determination is probably the most desirable, although it is downgraded in other Parliaments to shutting eyes, ears, and nose, and having a thick skin. For racing one must add a sense of direction. It is prudent to know which way a yacht is pointing in mid-Atlantic, or two 50 h.p. diesels are hurtling a hull, it is vital to know which way a newspaper enterprise is heading with its 9 million circulation. Sir Max seems to know very well, and we here salute his leadership. But for pressing the attack by air, for leading flight, squadron, or wing, all four virtues merge inseparably and are indispensable.
Notwithstanding which he is proudest of being, like his father, a Canadian citizen.
From:
Cattley, Robert E.D. Honoris causa: the effervescences of a university orator. Fredericton: UNB Associated Alumnae, 1968.
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