What's an invented story, what is true?

Archibald Belaney -  Grey Owl

Worth clicking:

The film & loads of links: http://www.mcs.net/~klast/www/grey_owl.html 

Virtual Saskatchewan: http://www.virtualsk.com/current_issue/grey_owl.html 

Grey Owl or:  WISE OLD OWL?

No, he can't be compared to Exodus Crow - but at least his story is a story worth knowing - and Grey  Owl (Archibald Belaney), masquerading as an Ojibway Indian, lived with them.

"The amazing story of a man born in Hastings who went on to re-invent himself as an American Indian and best-selling author
Most of you have probably heard about Richard Attenborough's forthcoming film on Grey Owl, but now much is known about him?

From the fact that he was born in Hastings as Archibald Belaney and lived most of his life as a Worth American Indian, 1998 is the 60th anniversary of his death. Hastings resident Dr Colin Taylor is president of the Grey Owl Society which he runs with his wife Betty. Colin is an expert on Worth American Indians and has several books on the subject to his name.

Betty Taylor said; "People are specifically attracted to Grey Owl because he is considered by many to be the first environmentalist. Many read his inspiring books as children, which revealed the exciting world of the American Indian."

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Grey Owl

He became famous as a half-Scot, half-Apache defender of wildlife, and some believe he should rank with John Muir and Rachel Carson in the environmentalists' pantheon. But he was not exactly what he seemed.
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"The man known as Grey Owl was born Archibald Belaney in Hastings, England in 1888. He emigrated to Canada in 1906, where he worked as a trapper, guide and forest ranger. He stopped killing beavers and adopted the persona of Grey Owl, masquerading as an Ojibway Indian. The fact that he was an Englishman, and not an Indian, was not uncovered until after his death in 1936. He is remembered as being the father of the conservation movement, having gained international recognition in the 1930s for his writings and lectures on the Canadian north. He dedicated his life to preserving Canada's pristine wilderness areas."

from/more:
http://www.mcs.net/~klast/www/grey_owl.html 
 

"Er ist die erste Rothaut, die tatsächlich wie ein Indianer aussieht", schrieb im Februar 1931 ein Reporter über den Auftritt Grey Owls im eleganten Montrealer Windsor Hotel. "Seine hoch aufgeschossene sehnige Physis, seine ausgeprägten Züge, seine kühnen Augen zeugen von dem Erbe seiner stolzen, ungebändigten Vorfahren." Kurze Zeit später erschien "The Men of the Last Frontier", das erste Buch von Grey Owl ­ es machte ihn sofort zum berühmtesten Öko-Indianer Nordamerikas**.

In Wahrheit aber war Grey Owl wohl eher der erste Weiße, der wie ein Indianer aussah und sich mal als Vollblut, mal als Halbblut ausgab: Der Rächer der enterbten Biber hieß Archibald Belaney, war Engländer und stammte aus Hastings in Sussex. Über den kuriosen Schwindler in löblicher Mission hat der britische Regisseur Richard Attenborough ("Gandhi", "Chaplin") einen Film gedreht mit dem James-Bond-Darsteller Pierce Brosnan in der Hauptrolle. Nun ist "Grey Owl" in Deutschland angelaufen.

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                                                                                   © EN21 L (Dt) Gymnasium Ulricianum Aurich - August 2000