Zoomer Magazine April/May 2024

SPOTLIGHT John Fraser is the founding president of the Institute for the Study of the Crown at the University of Toronto’s Massey College and the author of several books on the monarchy, including Funeral for a Queen: 12 Days in London; The Secret of the Crown: Canada’s Affair With Royalty; and Eminent Canadians. In this issue, he writes about what King Charles III’s cancer diagnosis means for the sovereign of Canada in “Send Him Victorious” (pg. 44). Shanda Deziel, our new features editor, spent the last three years overseeing coverage of celebrities and the Royal Family as deputy editor at Hello! Canada. Previously, the Toronto-based journalist’s work has appeared in national publications such as Maclean’s, En Route, Today’s Parent and the Globe and Mail. In this issue, she writes…

THE LOBSTER-ROLL DEBATE Kim Honey’s “Search for the Perfect Lobster Roll” (February/March 2024) provoked a strong reaction from readers, especially Maritimers. Here’s a sampling. I was surprised to read that your article featured Maine lobster rolls. As a Canadian magazine, I was expecting to see features from New Brunswick, P.E.I. and Nova Scotia. It is fine to be introduced to new places but I believe you missed the boat in not featuring the Maritime lobster roll. —Kevin McNamara What about Canada’s East Coast lobster, which is equally delicious and perhaps more relevant to a Canadian readership! —Linda Sumner How about giving our Maritime provinces equal lobster-roll billing! —Dorothy Couvier Although I did say I had eaten lobster rolls in all three Maritime provinces in my travel story about midcoast…

SHROUDED IN centuries of myth and remove, the British monarchy’s first attempt at transparency did not go as hoped. It was the Swinging Sixties and the counterculture youthquake shaking up staid societal traditions showed the institution up as out of touch. Reaching for relevancy ahead of 20-year-old Charles’ investiture as Prince of Wales, Queen Elizabeth agreed to have cameras shadow her for a year. The resulting 110-minute documentary, Royal Family, aired in 1969 and, according to the BBC, was seen by 30 million Brits and an estimated worldwide audience of 350 million before it was unceremoniously banned by the Queen in 1977. But it was too late; a crack of light had been let in. The film’s cinéma-vérité approach captured no Real Housewives’– in this case, of Windsor –…

UP From Bond girl toDr. Quinn to age crusader Jane Seymour (left) says older women deserve to be recognized and heard, telling People that being 73, is “not old. That is wisdom on two legs.” Over the hill? More like under the covers Japan’s rapidly aging population has increased the popularity of “silver porn,” featuring older performers – many of whom retired from conventional careers and wanted something new. An American researcher who has studied centenarians for decades compiled 15 shared traits that he said contributed to their happiness The traits include healthy diets, financial stability, lots of time with loved ones … and frequent trips to Japan. Sure, till death do us part. But how’s his grill game? A British woman married for 63 years tells Sky News…

Like so many teens before her, 15-year-old Vivienne Jolie-Pitt – the youngest daughter of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt – has fallen in love with The Outsiders. It wasn’t the original 1967 novel or even the 1983 movie, which starred so many of her father’s contemporaries, that made a mark. Rather, it was a musical, performed last year at La Jolla Playhouse in San Diego, that led her into the world of the “Greasers” and “Socs.” As all parents know, when a teen shows an interest in something – anything – you’ve got to act fast. (Although few parents can pull the kind of strings Jolie can.) The Oscar winner, 48, took her daughter to meet author S.E. Hinton, who was the same age as Vivienne when she wrote…

Fittingly for its chameleon-like titular character, The Talented Mr. Ripley by American writer Patricia Highsmith has reappeared in many, many forms since she published the psychological thriller – the first in a series of five books – in 1955. A year later, Tom Ripley debuted on the small screen in an episode of CBS’s anthology series Studio One, and, a few years after that, in the film Purple Noon. Since Ripley was most famously played by Matt Damon in the 1999 film that also starred Gwyneth Paltrow and Jude Law, versions of the villain have spoken everything from French to Bengali. Wherever you look, another Tom Ripley materializes. The newest iteration is Ripley on Netflix, where Irish actor Andrew Scott – a.k.a. Fleabag’s “hot priest” and star of buzzy…