Episode 27: John Boyko on Sir Sandford Fleming

In this episode Allan talks with historian and author John Boyko about his latest book, In Pursuit of Tomorrow: The Inventive Life of Sandford Fleming. While Fleming is best known for coming up with the idea of standard time and time zones used around the world today, that was just one of a long list of significant achievements. By his mid-twenties, Fleming had already surveyed and mapped half a dozen Ontario cities, redesigned Toronto’s waterfront, created Canada’s first postage stamp featuring the beaver, founded the Canadian Institute, and established a reputation as one of the country's leading engineers. Fleming’s contributions shaped projects that helped define modern Canada, including the Intercolonial Railway, the Canadian Pacific Railway, Queen’s University, scientific institutions, and communications networks that connected the country to the wider world. Chapters 00:00 Introduction and guest welcome 00:18 Who was Sandford Fleming? 01:19 The missed train in Ireland that changed the world 03:33 John Boyko's path to becoming a historian and author 08:03 Discovering Sandford Fleming's story 09:00 Curiosity as Fleming's defining characteristic 10:25 Teaching history and engaging students 13:33 Storytelling and the importance of narrative in history 14:34 Reading habits, AI, and education today 16:56 History, politics, and civic engagement 20:34 Sandford Fleming's astonishing first years in Canada 24:20 Founding the Canadian Institute and scientific collaboration 25:15 Designing Canada's first postage stamp and the beaver symbol 27:04 Indigenous history, archaeology, and Fleming's legacy 28:57 Surveying a nation: the Canadian Pacific Railway 29:53 The Ocean to Ocean expedition across Canada 34:39 Why Fleming was more than a desk-bound engineer 35:12 The creation of standard time and time zones 38:53 Convincing the world to adopt a global system 39:56 Fleming's many overlooked accomplishments 40:17 The Pacific cable and Fleming's later years 41:06 How John Boyko became interested in history 42:26 Recommended history books 44:17 Closing remarks