I Know That Name!
Mark Nearney & Randy Ray
(Reviewer - Rebecca Brown)
2002 Hounslow Books
ISBN: 1550024078

The People Behind Canada's Best Known Brand Names from Elizabeth Arden to Walter Zeller.

Every day Canadians buy groceries at Loblaws or Sobeys, develop film at Black's, or grab a coffee & donut at Tim Hortons without giving it a second thought. These brands are in our lives & in the public eye. What do we know about the people behind these names?

Kearney & Ray, two journalists who have made a name for themselves as Canada's “Trivia Guys” set out to tell a little about:
 • Aikenhead Hardware
 • Alexanian Carpets
 • Elizabeth Arden cosmetics
 • Dr. Ballard's Animal Food Products
 • The Bata Shoe Organization
 • Bell Canada
 • Mark's Work Wearhouse
 • Brick Brewing
 • Cunard Line
 • Dickie Dee Ice Cream
 • Eaton's
 • Fuller Brush Company
 • Heintzman Pianos
 • Holt Renfrew
 • Miss Vickie's Potato Chips
 • LePage Glue
 • Macleods True Value
 • Sweet Marie chocolate bars, & many, many more.

For years, the names of dozens of Canadians have been before the public eye in one way or another: on signs, labels, packaging, trucks, coffee cups, bus shelters & clothing. They're everywhere & yet few know who were the people behind the names & the story of their companies. Kearney & Ray, in their sixth book, have changed all that -- I Know That Name! is a roster of Canada's who's who. From early beginnings to today. The mighty titans of industry & the upstarts with a passion.

I Know That Name! has lots of photos to illustrate this collection of histories about ordinary people, some Canadian born, others were immigrants, with a few just passing through: all, however, made their mark on a nation & its culture -- from shaving cream to publishing houses, cough drops to body builders, distilleries & breweries to moving companies, film makers to musical instruments, toys to washing machines, hats to construction, eyeglasses to razors, ladies' wear to fake meat products, advertising to flour, business forms to farm equipment, & on it goes.

I Know That Name! is for every trivia buff, throne & game room, giving glimpses of how companies started, flourished, were gobbled up by bigger ones, or fended off takeovers to continue toward modernday prosperity.

Eclectic & interesting.

More trivia from Mark Nearney & Randy Ray:
Pucks Pablum & Pingos: More Fascinating Facts and Quirky Quizzes from Canada's Trivia Guys
The Great Canadian Book of ListsThe Great Canadian Book of Lists: Greatest, Sexiest, Strangest, Best, Worst, Highest, Lowest, Largest.
(11/20/05)

Rebecca