Articles About Theo

Finn the Half-Great review from Children's Book News

2010-04-11T10:23:00.000-07:00

Finn the Half-Great
written by Theo Caldwell
Tundra Books, 2009
978-0-88776-931-3 (hc) $24.99 for Grades 7 and up

Fiction--Fantasy--Irish Legends

Theo Caldwell's first novel, based on the legends of one of Ireland's most famous heroes, is entertaining and inspiring. In a finely crafted tale, Caldwell keeps the reader on the edge of his or her seat as he explores the ancient world of Albion.

Finn the Half-Great grows up believing that he is the tallest and greatest person in the Emerald Isle. That is until Finn meets a real giant and struggles to understand his place in the grand scheme of things. When Finn learns of his father's brutal murder at the hands of the Frost Giants, he vows revenge and sets out on an adventure of a life time.

Caldwell's narrative genuinely captures the feelings of adventure, excitement and suspense. The story, though fast paced and plot driven, is full of detail that enriches the experience of the reader. The beautiful cover illustration by Victor Molev reflects the imaginative depiction of the story's central characters, locations and mysteries.

Finn the Half-Great is a thoughtful story filled with humour and mirth that will enchant the reader from the very first page. I look forward to reading the next installment in this series that promises to keep readers spellbound for years to come.

Trevor Froates

May I Recommend: FINN THE HALF-GREAT

2010-04-11T07:50:00.000-07:00

FINN THE HALF-GREAT
By Theo Caldwell
Tundra Books
377 pages
$24.99
Ages 9 - 12

Reviewed by Steven Stanley
Steven Stanley is a Roanoke fan of fantasy, science fiction and various other genres.

For those who think mythology is a dry, dusty subject with no entertainment value, here’s a book that proves them wrong.

Finn McCool is the greatest hero in Irish history. Theo Caldwell has chosen to tell tales of a Finn never before known. His character has a giant father and a human mother, making him a half-great, some 14 feet tall and tremendously strong. Like his traditional Celtic namesake, he has tasted the Salmon of Wisdom and can call upon godlike knowledge in times of need. Even more importantly, he has a charisma that turns many potential enemies into allies or even friends.

The son of a great warrior, Finn has powerful enemies even before he is born. He is raised in secret by aunts and an uncle, who keep secret the full truth of his heritage. Once he sets out from their remote valley to face his father’s killer, he finds he is only a little fellow in a world filled with huge, dangerous creatures. Taking up his sire’s great red sword, he journeys to Tara in search of allies.
But this is only the beginning. When his bride, Oonagh, is stolen, Finn must gather friends and battle tremendous odds to find her. His enemies are legion and terrible. Along the way, he encounters numerous strange creatures, including the supremely dangerous Jack in the Green, whose inhuman speed and slashing shears have slain innumerable giants.

In his first novel, Canadian-born Theo Caldwell re-creates one of the great mythic heroes in a format that can be read by children. He introduces new elements to the tales that have circulated in Ireland for centuries. Characters such as the wary Escape Goat and the highly sociable Turducken are not mentioned in ancient writings, but they do make interesting additions to this blending of Norse, Irish, and Britonish sagas. What the book lacks is illustrations; with the author’s descriptive powers and light-hearted touch, it seems ready-made for adaptation as a graphic novel or comics series.
If you have children who enjoy fairy tales, “Finn the Half-Great” might well brighten their eyes for a few hours. Come to think of it, this book might brighten adult eyes, too.

Local Author Provides Sassy and Legendary Read

2010-03-04T17:42:00.000-08:00

Finn the Half-Great, by Theo Caldwell, Tundra Book, hardcover $24.99.

It’s listed as juvenile fiction, but take that in the same way that Tolkien’s tales of hobbits might also be. Theo Caldwell’s easy-going epic of giants, elves, cyclopes, dragons, sea creatures, humans and other monsters who once ruled Albion (the British Isles) has an appeal for all ages.

First, the title keeps cracking me up. Pythonesque. Next we’ll have tales of Peter the Passable and Hank the Has-His-Moments.

ALL GREAT: Theo Caldwell’s book Finn the Half-Great recounts the tale of a small giant and his adventures in the world of his larger kith and kin.

But Finn the Half-Great is called such for physical reasons: he’s a giant compared to most of us, but not a really big Jack-and-the-Beanstock giant. Only about half that big. So when he leaves his home on Eire to fight real giants and other legendary creatures — usually in what we now call Scotland and England — he has to use his wits. Oh yeah, and a magic thumb. Long story how he got this power, but sucking his thumb gives this small giant some big ideas and tall courage. He becomes quite the trickster in bringing down fearsome foes.

And at crucial moments when he is completely outmatched, his even more clever wife Oonagh comes up with successful stratagems.

Celtic mythology really does feature a large figure variably named Find McCuhuill, Fionn mac Cumail, or Finn McCool (to us English bowdlerizers) who fought demons, was saved by his wife’s wits, and built a stepping-stone causeway from Ireland to Scotland.

But this re-imagining of the fairy tales presents a story much more human (if I may use that word) than found in any old texts. Finn and his friends are quite delightful and occasionally touching in their simple beliefs and drives that get them through the rollicking adventures in Finn the Half-Great.

The reading is easy but not dumb, charming without being sweet. They’re stories into which we can read deeper meanings but don’t have to. Still it’s a dangerous title for an author’s first novel — tempts one to title a review only “half-good”.

But no such fears here. It’s all great fun.

Theo at The Book Lovers Ball

2010-02-19T14:53:00.000-08:00

Finn the half-Great appears on The Star's list of kids' books for Christmas

2009-12-13T09:13:00.000-08:00

Theo Caldwell reworks traditional stories from Ireland in Finn the Half-Great (Tundra, 382 pages, $24.99, ages 10+), being the epic of Finn McCool, son of a mortal and a Giant. Finn first avenges his father's death by killing Ymir the Frost Giant, then is coaxed out of years of pleasant retirement with his beloved Oonagh when Eire is threatened by mortals. Giants, elves, magical salmon, serpents and sorcerers all have their part to play in Finn's great effort to save Eire and win back his love.

The humour and trickery of Caldwell's sources shines through, lifting it out of the humdrum war stuff of conventional fantasy. "Apart from my thumb-sucking, I'm not sure I have much to offer," Finn protests modestly, hoping to get out of a troublesome quest...

>> Link to article.

Reading to a new audience

2009-10-29T09:03:00.000-07:00

On Thursday night Theo Caldwell, a regular guest on BNN, CP24, Studio 2 and a frequent contributor to The National Post, came to The Freckled Lion bookstore on Main Street of Georgetown to read his new book, Finn the Half Great to an enthusiastic young crowd. Maya Venters and Timothy Venters were among the youngsters who listed to Caldwell read. The Freckled Lion hosted the very pleasant affair with snacks and beverages and offered a cozy atmosphere to frame the event. The parents seemed to enjoy it as much as the young audience.

On Giants' Shoulders

2009-10-20T10:21:00.000-07:00

Hunky banker-turned-author Theo Caldwell pulls a big-wig crowd to celebrate kids' over-sized action hero

Invigorating talk? In no short supply the other night at The Spoke. While crusader Craig Kielburger held me in thrall about his recent sit-down with the Dalai Lama, and politico Peter Kent held forth about the latest calamities in Honduras, the multi-tasking Theo Caldwell -- banker! stud! now, a YA author! -- pontificated fondly on the subject of Irish half-giants.

One particular half-giant, actually: 14-foot tall Finn Mc-Cool, the hero of Theo's recently published fable. "Even though he think he's a giant," the writer began saying in his formal remarks, shortly after being introduced by his pal, Ben Mulroney, "he's really somewhere in the middle." The book, he went on Oprahliciously, is about "being the very best you can be."

Getting out the very best crowd you can get, by the way? Caldwell was doing a-OK in that department. Among those out to fete the president of Caldwell Asset Management Inc. were maybe-mayoral-can didate John Tory, active opinion-maker Andrew Coyne, and lovey-dovey CEO Donna Hayes, Harlequin honcho-ess.

So, why'd this Bay Street turk write the book? Well, he summed it up best when he told openbooktoronto.com,"Investment managers are the folks most in need of inspiration these days." In the same interview, Caldwell said, " More than anything, I want children to read and be challenged by Finn's adventures. If grown-ups want to have a look, too, they're certainly welcome ..."

Shinan Govani - National Post

http://www.halfgreat.com/

Institute celebrates 20 years of defending Israel

2008-08-20T08:48:00.000-07:00

By JANICE ARNOLD, Staff Reporter

MONTREAL — “If you ask me what I’m most proud of after 20 years, it’s that we have survived,” says Frederick Krantz, founder and director of the Canadian Institute for Jewish Research (CIJR), an independent, pro-Israel, largely voluntary foundation.

CIJR, which is guided by academics but geared to the needs of the community’s grassroots, publishes the daily ISRANET Briefing and the biweekly Israzine, among other online and print English and French publications intended to disseminate accurate information and fair comment about the Middle East and Jewish issues. It also maintains a huge physical and online archive of articles and papers on the same topics and runs programs for university students, including training in how to advocate for Israel on campus.

Krantz is proud of the fact that CIJR is able to do so much with a small staff and a very tight budget. The institute has just two year-round staff members headed by Jacqueline Douek, three student interns (two of whom are working only through the summer), and an archivist, a six-month position made possible by a Quebec government grant.

Otherwise, CIJR relies almost entirely on funding from individuals, and that amounts to just enough to get by annually, Krantz said. It receives no money from the organized Jewish community, a circumstance that Krantz still doesn’t understand after two decades.

“What we are doing is unique in Canada. We are recognized internationally, but still there is no support.”

CIJR celebrates its 20th anniversary with a formal gala dinner – the first in its history – Aug. 27 at Congregation Shaar Hashomayim at 6 p.m. The honorees are veteran international Jewish leader Isi Leibler and his wife Naomi Leibler, world president of Emunah, and Alan Baker, who is shortly leaving his position as Israeli ambassador to Canada after four years. They will receive CIJR’s Lion of Judah award.

Theo Caldwell, president of Caldwell Asset Management Inc. and a current affairs columnist for the National Post and Toronto Sun, who has frequently defended Israel, will be recognized as CIJR’s Golden Magen David honoree for outstanding person of the year.

Isi Leibler is a former senior leader of World Jewish Congress who was forced to leave the organization a few years ago, when he called for an investigation into alleged financial irregularities that eventually proved to be justified. The billionaire Australian businessman and prolific writer now lives in Israel, where he chairs the Israel-Diaspora committee of the Jerusalem Centre for Public Affairs.

Krantz, a New York-born, Concordia University professor of the history of the Renaissance, who spends more time in Italy than in Israel, did not set out to create a think-tank or a lobby group.

But he was incensed by what he saw as biased media coverage against Israel during the first intifadah in the late ’80s. He was convinced that the Arabs were waging a campaign to divide Diaspora Jewry and that the community needed to put up a united public front. Krantz felt that leadership was not coming from the organized Jewish community.

He started to write letters and articles to the Gazette and other papers. He noticed some fellow academics, notably Harold Waller and Julien Bauer, were taking similar action, and suggested they co-ordinate their activities.

Soon, the professors were being invited to speak at synagogues and community groups, and Krantz became aware of the hunger for information in the Jewish community about what was going on in the Middle East.

The professors launched a daily newsletter call Responsa, which was sent by fax connected to a computer, the leading technology of the day.

“We spent $800 on that machine, which was a lot of money at the time,” Krantz recalled. For the first couple of years, CIJR operated out of Krantz’s basement as a volunteer effort. Responsa soon became Israfax, which continues to be published today as a quarterly digest.

One of the first non-academics attracted to CIJR was Baruch Cohen, who at 88, continues to come into work as the organization’s volunteer research chair. The Romanian-born Holocaust survivor saw in CIJR a means of concretely expressing his passionate devotion to the continuity of the Jewish people.

“CIJR is a gem,” he said. “A powerful voice against ‘shtadlanut’ [appeasement], an uncompromising defender of the rights of the Jewish people and the rights of the State of Israel. CIJR plays an essential role on the international political landscape by offering consistent, valuable and clear analysis of the Jewish world, the Middle East and Israel.”

Cohen and Krantz found each other after a letter by the former was published in The Canadian Jewish News in August 1988, expressing his concerns about a federal government-sponsored symposium that brought together a select group of Arab and Jewish Canadians at Montebello, Que. Krantz also opposed the clandestine meeting.

The CIJR’s first “office” was a room at the Canadian Zionist Federation’s headquarters, then on Décarie Boulevard. “I chain-smoked a pipe at that time, and Baruch threatened to leave if I didn’t quit. I said I need nicotine to write, but I did quit. Baruch was just too valuable to us,” Krantz said.

Although his personal views are hawkish, Krantz has always insisted that CIJR be open to a broad spectrum of opinion on Israel, but he draws the line at Peace Now, whose open criticism, he feels, is detrimental.

“Jewish unity has always been our key value. And that means not criticizing Israel publicly. Internal debate in the community is all right, but we should not be publicly questioning the legitimacy of its democratically elected government,” Krantz said.

Work to start on accessible playground

2008-06-05T12:14:00.000-07:00

Prince Edward will attend launch Sunday

The notion of a completely barrier-free children's play area will take one big step closer to becoming a reality this weekend, with some top dignitaries in attendance to commemorate the occasion.

His Royal Highness Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex, Ontario Lieutenant Governor David Onley and Mayor David Miller will be on hand to help launch the construction of the Neshama Playground in Oriole Park.

Neshama will be the product of several local business leaders, who realize the need for a playground that offers accessible and inclusive activities for all children. The inspiration for the playground came when criminal lawyer Steven Skurka and investment manager Thomas Caldwell shared a magazine article about a four-year-old child in New York who - due to physical disability - was unable to join other kids in traditional playgrounds.

"They agreed that Toronto needed something like that," said Theo Caldwell of Caldwell Asset Management, one of the companies leading the charge to help fund the Neshama Playground. "When we looked at playgrounds in the city, I was surprised to find that a lot of children with physical and cognitive disabilities can't use a (conventional) playground the same as other children."

Neshama will feature an accessible play area to allow children with mobility problems to access the equipment, but its benefits range far beyond that. Other play features will allow for sensory, creative and motor skill development, which will provide ample opportunities for children of all ages to build their abilities.

"They're things that all kids find neat; they're tactile and fun," Caldwell said. "It's important to have an equilibrium. The goal is to have an integrated area that everyone will enjoy using."

One play area will include musical devices for non-physical play while others will feature buckets and cranks to allow kids to play with water, concrete walls with indigenous stones for sensory learning and educational spaces with letters, numbers and shapes.

"The play apparatus is remarkable and ingenious in the way it's put together," Caldwell said.

Making the playground all the more impressive is the fact that it will cost roughly the same as a more traditional, non-accessible play area of the same size. Proponents of the large playground are putting just over $1 million into Neshama, with the city matching that amount.

"That's one of the reasons I was so surprised that it hasn't been done," Caldwell said. "It's not prohibitively more expensive than building a regular playground."

He added that once Neshama is built, it can be used as a model for future playgrounds throughout Toronto and beyond.

The unique facility has already attracted attention from summer camps, who are eager to make use of the accessible play area.

"We've heard from so many people who are chomping at the bit to get in and use it," Caldwell said.

Construction on the playground will start this summer, with the official launch ceremony with Miller, Onley and Prince Edward taking place at 2 p.m. on Sunday, June 8 at Oriole Park, near Chaplin Crescent and Oriole Parkway. For more information on the park and its features, visit www.neshamaplayground.ca

BY JUSTIN SKINNER
June 5, 2008 11:45 AM

Theo Caldwell talks to TVO about his play; A More Perfect Union

2008-05-02T11:42:00.000-07:00

Theo Caldwell: man of mystery

2008-03-25T11:55:00.000-07:00

by Judie Oron

The stage: Washington D.C., the White House, 1963. President John F. Kennedy is about to leave for Texas. In a dark hallway, he encounters President Abraham Lincoln. Each is convinced that the other is an apparition and what follows is a fascinating discussion between the two former national leaders. The above scenario is the setting for the two-act stage play, A More Perfect Union, one of several works written by Theo Caldwell and, like the man, the ideas are bold and, at times, downright fanciful.

Eminent businessmen aren’t usually spotted at Toronto’s stylish Spoke Club giving a reading of one of their plays, but, then again, most businessmen don’t possess the charm, humor, and intelligence of Canadian/American/Irishman (yes, he has three passports) Theo Caldwell. President of Caldwell Asset Management in New York, vice president of Caldwell Investment Management in Toronto, and a director of Caldwell Financial Ltd. in Toronto, his artistic and business personae are equally dominant. Writer, director, producer, actor – Caldwell wears all these hats, and more.

Caldwell, with his penchant for drama, seems to consistently speak in italics. And that’s only one of the many charming things about him. A tendency to blush is another, and woe to any female over age when that happens. Asked what it was like growing up with an IQ of 160, he explains that his older brother is much smarter but that he is the better dresser. He may be accomplished in many areas, but perhaps his greatest strength is his ability to be self-deprecating and deflect compliments.

Caldwell’s ancestors are equally colorful. A great-grandfather ran away from Bristol “in the middle of the night to get out of a wedding engagement.” His paternal grandfather came to Canada from the North of Ireland and started a sausage factory. Caldwell displays a photograph of his grandfather beside one of his trucks, pointing out the scripted capital C on the side of the vehicle, which Caldwell still uses in its logo today. His maternal grandfather, Fred A. Boylen, founded Urbana Corporation as a mining company. It is now an investment company which has recently celebrated its 60th year in business.

Caldwell grew up the younger of two boys in Toronto’s upscale Rosedale neighborhood. His parents - Thomas S. Caldwell, Chairman and founder of Caldwell Financial, and Dorothy Caldwell - met in high school and will soon celebrate their 42nd anniversary. “My father is the kind of guy that, if he’s teaching you to play chess when you’re 5 or 6, there’s no way he’ll let you win. I think, when he looks at me, he probably still sees that 5- or 6-year-old that he can stomp at chess,” Caldwell says, smiling. “My mother is an intensely private person, a woman of many skills.” Older brother, Brendan T.N. Caldwell, is president of both Caldwell Securities and Caldwell Investment Management, two companies that are among Canada’s top financial services firms. The brothers and their father “all have different skill sets,” Caldwell explains, but they work well together and share business and philanthropic philosophies.

The family recently did a very detailed DNA genealogy study. “It turns out that my dad’s mother’s X chromosome goes all the way back to that group of Europeans that today makes up 98% of all Jewish people in Europe and North America.” One family member, an officer in the Anglican Church the family attended in Theo’s youth, was a convert from Judaism, and the congregation studied Jewish culture and celebrated many Jewish holidays, including an annual Passover seder. Caldwell recalls his intense disappointment when Brendan was, for some reason, chosen to recite the tradition “four questions” although Theo was the youngest.

Caldwell attended Upper Canada College, and is still in touch with his former classmates whom he likens to “a sort of Diaspora of [brilliant young people] who later fanned out in Toronto and across the globe, doing many different things.” He did his B.A. in English at Trinity College, University of Toronto and his Master’s degree in Public Policy and Management at the University of London [England]. “I could see that I was going to be spouting off about policy and politics for the rest of my life,” he says wryly. “I figured that I ought to have at least one post-nominal degree so that if I was really stuck in a debate, I could whip out my degree and say, ‘Hey pal! I have a master’s degree in public policy.’”

In 2000, at the age of 27, Caldwell ran for Parliament in Canada. During the campaign, Eleanor Kaplan, [then-immigration minister for the Liberal government], “called all of us who were running for the Alliance [Party] bigots and Holocaust deniers. I said, ‘I would rather not use the Holocaust as a political tool and lose the election, than bring it up and win.’” He grins. “It turns out I didn’t use it as a political tool and I didn’t win the election.”

Caldwell ponders the fact that North American Jews don’t always vote for the people who are their staunchest supporters – i.e., conservative politicians. “I remember hearing from fellow conservatives, ‘Oh we’re going to swing the Jewish vote.’ But it didn’t move the needle an inch! At every election, I keep thinking, ‘This time the Jews will see who their friends are, they’ll see who is defending Israel’. But I haven’t seen it yet. I hope, some day, they will recognize how much we value the Jewish community and the State of Israel and reward us with their vote.”

When asked, in the light of his many acting and writing endeavors, whether he had planned to be a businessman in his youth, he answers: “I wanted to be a movie star. I wanted to be a writer. I wanted to be in politics. I wanted to do lots of different things. But I also wanted to do business – that was in the mix. And we had a bit of an advantage, obviously, it being a family business.” Caldwell tried his hand at acting, wrote plays and film scripts, directed and even had a pretty successful stint on Jeopardy. He shrugs, “I think my acting was like my hockey,” he says, smiling. “I worked really hard at it but I don’t know that the result was there.”

Caldwell’s plays, screenplays and his latest endeavor, a novel (the first of five parts – “anybody can write a trilogy,” he comments) about a legendary Irishman named Finn - may suggest the personality of a risk taker. “It took me more than a year to research my play on Tchaikovsky. My Kennedy-Lincoln play I really researched. Finn the half-Great was a profound amount of research over the last three years or so. King Arthur is only what he is because Geoffrey of Monmouth in the 12th century said, ‘Look, I’m going to take all these fables about this chieftain that existed 500 years ago and I’m going to make up my own story.’ And that’s why we know who King Arthur is. In the same spirit, I’m going to take all this stuff floating around – it offends me personally that people think Finn McCool is a bar – and I’m going to create something that is fun and enjoyable for people to read. And yeah, it’s a risk, because I’m not sure I’ll be able to go back to Ireland again! But I don’t care! It’s fun and it’s my hobby. While my dad is sailing or riding Harleys and my brother is planting trees, I’m writing.”

From afar, Caldwell may appear as somewhat of a dilettante, but that perception couldn't be further from the truth. When it comes to business, Caldwell is all focus, “You asked how many hats I wear. I wear, at the end of the day, one hat and that is looking after people’s money. That’s it. The rest is hobby. I had someone offer me a TV show recently, but I thought, ‘You know what? My clients don’t make a dime from me sitting around and making a television show.’ So I wear one hat but I do lots of different things. It’s easy to take a risk if it’s just your hobby,” he concedes.

About the family businesses, Caldwell says, “My old man started this company in 1980, with the idea of looking after high -net-worth people, of providing full service brokerage. And we’re still here, which is something, because my father has a list somewhere of all the firms that started when we did and I think there’s maybe two left. We are now largely an investment management firm, here and in the U.S. I am the person in charge of wealth management in the U.S., based in New York City - partially because I’m an American, partially because I used to work in that market before I came to the family firm. We also have Urbana Corporation, that’s sort of a closed-end vehicle, trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange. In the last few years, we’ve bought up stock exchanges: We have equity ownership in stock exchanges around the world. We were the second largest owner of the New York Stock Exchange before it went public. We made a good deal of money for people doing that,” he says. “We’re still the only people in this country, and possibly in the industry at all who buy exchanges for our clients. Even if the markets are plunging hundreds of points the volumes are still high because they take a piece of the trade. So it’s a little like going to a casino,” he says, smiling.

The idea of buying seats on stock exchanges around the world started with one seat on the Toronto Exchange, bought by Thomas Caldwell for $30,000 in 1980. In 2002, the seat was worth $50,000. “But then, when the Toronto Stock Exchange de-mutualized, that $30,000 investment became worth around $28 million [today] - that’s $50,000 to $28 million in about 5 years. So that was the ‘subtle’ way in which the idea crept into my father’s mind, that perhaps purchasing not-for-profit mutual type exchanges might be a good idea.”

As for where he sees the business in the future, Caldwell explains, “Obviously, I want to grow the business. I’d like to be a household name across this continent and throughout Europe and I think we’re doing the right things to make that happen. The way we get there is to maintain the philosophy that Dad has had from the beginning, which is that you get what you want if you help enough other people to get what they want. My brother has been gangbusters at helping other people get what they want – which is more money – with stock exchange investments. Whenever people come to us to do business, often the first question they ask is, ‘What’s your minimum?’ We always say to them, ‘We have no dollar threshold.’ What we do have is a personality requirement. We do business with people we like.”

Perhaps no cause is nearer to Caldwell’s heart than canine rescue. He’s dedicated his novel to Harvey, a purebred boxer, and even named his home Harvey Manor. “I don’t have human children,” he explains, pulling out a photo of a group of dogs on a lawn. In the photo, the dogs have custom metal contraptions built around them that Caldwell calls ‘wheelabouts.’ “Harvey developed what’s called degenerative myelopathy, where the back legs just stop working. He’s not in pain; he just can’t move his back legs. So, he can use his front legs and [his] dad’s got the caboose.”

The other dogs in the family have all been rescued by Caldwell from some nasty fate. Colby was blind when Caldwell found him at Boxer Rescue Ontario. After a recent operation, he can now see and lives quite joyfully, despite his 28 separate allergies. “I’ve made it clear to [Boxer Rescue Ontario] that whatever money is needed for whatever dogs they can get hold of, that’s the way it’s going to be,” he says.

Among Caldwell’s many philanthropic initiatives is a fundraising project for an integrated playground in Toronto called Neshama [soul in Hebrew], with accommodations for children with and without special needs. This subject has been close to Caldwell’s heart since his teenage years. “I went to a Christian camp in Muskoka called Pioneer Camp. It was then the only camp in Ontario with an integrated special needs program. I taught swimming to a group of kids who had Down’s syndrome and other disabilities. One guy would have a grand mal seizure every class and fall into the lake,” he recalls. “But he wanted to swim, so I said, ‘Okay, we’re going to have an inner tube right behind him and, when he has the seizure, we’ll be ready.’ It was a formative experience for me, to see the kids playing together. Just because a kid’s born with a disability doesn’t mean he can’t have as much fun as anybody else.”

Neshama’s budget is $1 million and the vision is that it will be designed to integrate play experiences for all children, including those with physical, cognitive, and developmental disabilities, as well as accommodating disabled parents. He hopes it will become a model for other similar playgrounds in the future. “I am gobsmacked that it does not already exist in Toronto,” Caldwell says, adding that they are planning a festive ceremony in spring 2008, with British royalty in attendance. The Caldwells are also large contributors to a hospital in Angola, and a Free the Children leadership center in India.

Caldwell remarks that the Neshama project began as a predominantly Jewish endeavor and is now a collaboration of the community at large. “[The Judeo-Christian] philosophies are the basis of Western society. So I hope that the common ground will continue to be recognized. I think the applications can be large, as in the future of the State of Israel and the Jewish people, or it can be small, as in the case of working together to achieve a small aim, in a neighborhood that we both share. We’re all part of the same community. I hope that they are as pleased to see me as I am to see them.”

It's hip to be square at work

2007-12-24T10:52:00.000-08:00

Suitable has just returned from a quick dash across the pond where haberdashers are a dime a dozen.

So well turned-out are gents in London that I could not help but wonder why dressing nicely is a point of pride for them and a sticking point for blokes here at home.

Savile Row (and let's not forget Jermyn Street) may be the gold standard, yet most men get by without buying bespoke suits or spending exorbitant amounts of money. What they're doing right is caring about the details.

Consider the pocket square, also known as the handkerchief. If you've never worn one before, it is not nearly as foppish as you perceive it to be.

First, let's agree that calling it a puff or a hankie devalues its sartorial value. And according to purists, pocket squares and handkerchiefs serve different purposes - decorative compared with practical.

"One is for blowing and one is for showing," a genial sales associate named Jonathan explained to me as I browsed the Turnbull & Asser shop in London. (Incidentally, Jonathan had a cold and was using a tissue.)

They can further be distinguished by fabric; cotton for the handkerchief and silk for the pocket square. And unless you want to brag about ultra high-end Sea Island cotton handkerchiefs, silk will always be more expensive. At Turnbull's, for instance, cotton ranges from £3.50 to £30 (approximately double in Canadian dollars) whereas silk costs £35.

Silk, however, makes the bolder statement. It's what Toronto-based money manager Theo Caldwell prefers, and he's got a collection of nearly 30 (a combination of classic white and lively prints), which he says is "embarrassingly too few."

The approach of the 34-year-old son of Thomas Caldwell (as in Caldwell Asset Management) is an exception to the boring suits on Bay Street. But in his opinion, "you look somehow unprepared if you don't have [one] sticking up in the top left corner of your jacket."

To this extent, he folds the fabric and chooses his colours with great care. For formal occasions, he prefers the straight fold or precise peaks. Otherwise, he is less exact: "I turn it upside down, poke my finger in and then shove it in," Mr. Caldwell says.

As for matching his collection with his outfit, he says, "It ought to go with the tie but it ought not to be perfectly identical.

"You need just the right sort of shade; the rest of the day might not be as good as it should be if you don't have just the right play between the tie and the handkerchief."

Granted, regular pocket square wearers may not be nearly as affected by such perfect imperfection. To them, says Damon Allan of Alexander Steel Image Consulting, what matters is a subtle way to convey confidence and style savvy.

"It can be worn all year round and it's a wonderful piece to incorporate into a wardrobe since it can truly define a man's personal style," he says, noting that cashmere is a luxe option for the winter.

And echoing Mr. Caldwell, Mr. Allan says the biggest faux pas that men can make is to be matchy-matchy. His two recommendations: "The colours should pick up the colours in the tie, shirt or suit," and "if you are wearing a paisley tie, elect for a solid, or if you want to get racy then try a stripe."

Racy (and fun) is how I would describe a white cotton handkerchief from Paul Smith at Heathrow airport that boasted an old-fashioned pinup girl in the centre.

But my favourite pocket square of the moment comes from Green Shag Clothier, which has a "stordio" (a portmanteau of store and studio) in downtown Toronto. Founder Neil McPhedran's "pocket poof" combines a neoprene pocket protector for your BlackBerry or iPhone with a permanently folded silk top.

"Part of the problem is pocket square creep," he says of the tendency to slide downward. "We wondered if there was a way to get it to stay up. We'd seen permanent poofs but we wanted to put that together with a great receptacle."

He notes, however, that they are not intended as a handkerchief. "I don't think the notion of carrying a hankie will come back with full vengeance, especially now that people are more germ-sensitive."

Currently, he offers four solid colours and one print option ($35 at Greenshag.com) with more designs to come. And you've got to love a Canadian company whose motto - a good shag will always get you noticed - resonates with any British chap.

AMY VERNER
From Monday's Globe and Mail
December 24, 2007 at 10:52 AM EDT

Actor, banker and Irish mythmaker

2007-05-02T11:02:00.000-07:00

He's used to high finance, but Theo Caldwell is now ready to embark on a more epic task

The son of one of the giants of Canadian business is taking on one of the giants of Irish legend and, in the process, putting a little jig into Bay Street.

Theo Caldwell, rich by most definitions, dashing by almost all -- and single, too! -- has a secret project he's been working on in his spare time. When he's not working as an investment advisor for clients in Toronto and New York or buying up stocking exchanges around the world, that is.

The chap who calls Thomas Caldwell dad -- the chairman of Caldwell Financial and a flotilla of related subsidiary companies -- has a vanquishing Irish hero in his sights. "He's written a book called Finn the Half-Great," a source told me recently.

"It's a novel about the legends of Finn McCool, and it's meant as the first instalment of a fivepart series that will recount tales of giants, monsters and magic."

Finn McCool, who was a semimythical character long before he was a bar, is said to have been the greatest leader of the Fianna, the military elite of ancient Ireland responsible for guarding the High King. He also helped to implement a code of honour upon what was an unruly band, challenging them to become models of chivalry and justice. It's even been suggested that the tales of the Fianna are the basis of the legends of the Knights of the Round Table.

His friends, Theo tells me, are impressed that he can write a 150,000-word novel while managing a business, but he says that every Caldwell man has a hobby.

"My dad rides Harleys," he says, "my brother plants trees and I write about giants."

The fair-haired lad, who hasn't yet secured a publisher for his Irish scorcher but is working on it, apparently believes in diversification when it comes to both his portfolio and his pursuits. Besides scribbling prose, the thirty-something also spent a spell in Los Angeles pursuing an acting career, and at one time also tried to buy the muddy Frank magazine. To make it into, as he then put it, a "kinder, gentler magazine." Then, not long back, he also appeared as a contestant on TV's Jeopardy!.

But, it's not all UCC reunions and Spoke Club wine-tastings for our man. He's also been playing a hand in the bonanza that the family firm has been experiencing of late due to holding in various securities exchanges around the world. According to Investment Executive, the Caldwell Growth Opportunities Trust, introduced in September, 2005, has bagged a one-year return of 28% as of March 31.

And the spirit of Finn? It remains a steady guide. "Finn the half-Great is a fairly large fellow, but his friends and enemies are larger still," Theo tells me. "Our business is replete with awesome allies and formidable foes.

Size and strength are not always enough. Finn is clever and pleasant, too."

Shinan Govani, National Post
Published: Wednesday, May 02, 2007