L. M. Boyd

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Louis Malcolm (Mal) Boyd, popularly known as L. M. Boyd (June 9, 1927 in Spokane, Washington, USA – January 22, 2007, in Seattle) was a newspaper columnist whose nationally syndicated column was a collection of miscellaneous trivial and amusing facts. [1]

Spokane, Washington City in Washington, United States

Spokane is a city in Spokane County in the state of Washington in the northwestern United States. It is located on the Spokane River west of the Rocky Mountain foothills in eastern Washington, 92 miles (148 km) south of the Canada–US border, 18 miles (30 km) from the Washington–Idaho border, and 228 miles (367 km) east of Seattle along Interstate 90.

United States Federal republic in North America

The United States of America (USA), commonly known as the United States or America, is a country composed of 50 states, a federal district, five major self-governing territories, and various possessions. At 3.8 million square miles, the United States is the world's third or fourth largest country by total area and is slightly smaller than the entire continent of Europe's 3.9 million square miles. With a population of over 327 million people, the U.S. is the third most populous country. The capital is Washington, D.C., and the largest city by population is New York City. Forty-eight states and the capital's federal district are contiguous in North America between Canada and Mexico. The State of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east and across the Bering Strait from Russia to the west. The State of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U.S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, stretching across nine official time zones. The extremely diverse geography, climate, and wildlife of the United States make it one of the world's 17 megadiverse countries.

Seattle City in Washington, United States

Seattle is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With an estimated 730,000 residents as of 2018, Seattle is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region of North America. According to U.S. Census data released in 2018, the Seattle metropolitan area’s population stands at 3.87 million, and ranks as the 15th largest in the United States. In July 2013, it was the fastest-growing major city in the United States and remained in the Top 5 in May 2015 with an annual growth rate of 2.1%. In July 2016, Seattle was again the fastest-growing major U.S. city, with a 3.1% annual growth rate. Seattle is the northernmost large city in the United States.

Boyd was raised in Chimacum and Bremerton, Washington. He joined the Army at the age of 16 and worked for the Stars and Stripes .

Chimacum, Washington human settlement in Washington, United States of America

Chimacum is an unincorporated community in Jefferson County, Washington, United States, located in the center of the primary agricultural area of the eastern Olympic Peninsula. It was named after the Chimakum group of Indigenous Americans that lived there until the late 19th century but are now extinct as a distinct cultural group after losing successive conflicts with neighboring tribes.

Bremerton, Washington City in Washington, United States

Bremerton is a city in Kitsap County, Washington, United States. The population was 41,500 according to the 2018 State Estimate, making it the largest city on the Kitsap Peninsula. Bremerton is home to Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and the Bremerton Annex of Naval Base Kitsap. Bremerton is connected to Downtown Seattle by two ferries: a 60-minute ferry that carries both vehicles and walk-on passengers, and a 28-minute fast ferry that carries passengers and a limited number of bicycles.

<i>Stars and Stripes</i> (newspaper) military newspaper

Stars and Stripes is an American military newspaper that focuses and reports on matters concerning the members of the United States Armed Forces. It operates from inside the Department of Defense, but is editorially separate from it, and its First Amendment protection is safeguarded by the United States Congress, to whom an independent ombudsman, who serves the readers' interests, regularly reports. As well as a website, Stars and Stripes publishes four daily print editions for the military service members serving overseas; these European, Middle Eastern, Japanese, and South Korean editions are also available as free downloads in electronic format, and there are also seven digital editions. The newspaper has its headquarters in Washington, D.C.

After having worked at the (Spokane) Spokesman-Review , the New York Post , the San Francisco Chronicle and San Francisco Examiner , and the Houston Chronicle , in 1963 he moved to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer , where he began his trivia column.

<i>New York Post</i> Daily tabloid newspaper based in New York City

The New York Post is a daily newspaper in New York City. The Post also operates the celebrity gossip site PageSix.com, the entertainment site Decider.com, and co-produces the television show Page Six TV.

<i>San Francisco Chronicle</i> newspaper serving the San Francisco Bay area

The San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California. It was founded in 1865 as The Daily Dramatic Chronicle by teenage brothers Charles de Young and Michael H. de Young. The paper is currently owned by the Hearst Corporation, which bought it from the de Young family in 2000. It is the only major daily paper covering the city and county of San Francisco.

<i>Houston Chronicle</i> newspaper in Houston, Texas, USA

The Houston Chronicle is the largest daily newspaper in Houston, Texas, United States. As of April 2016, it is the third-largest newspaper by Sunday circulation in the United States, behind only the New York Times and Los Angeles Times. With its 1995 buy-out of long-time rival the Houston Post, the Chronicle became Houston's newspaper of record.

The column ran locally under the name Mike Mailway, the name Mailway having been derived from the digits in Boyd's telephone number at the Post-Intelligencer. In 1968 it was picked up by the San Francisco Chronicle , where it was renamed The Grab Bag, the name by which it is most commonly known, though it ran under other titles in other markets. It eventually appeared in nearly 400 newspapers. Grab Bag often featured the occasional asides of "Our Love and War Man," a character that presented items developed by him with his wife, Patricia.

Boyd was "Love" and his wife "War" -- although his wife Patricia maintained it was the other way around -- he told Chronicle writer Sam Whiting in 2000. [2] To another reporter Boyd said that "sometimes he's the Love part, sometimes [Patricia] is." [3]

The column led to the formation of Crown Syndicate by Boyd and his wife, which went on to offer several other columns and puzzles. The couple met in 1960, when Mr. Boyd was writing a column for the Houston Chronicle called Dial Watchem, which fielded reader complaints about broken signs and potholes. He had hired Patricia as an assistant. They were married 45 years and raised her six children.

Boyd also had three children from a previous marriage.

Boyd announced his retirement at the end of 2000, but popular demand brought the column back for a few more years. The final column officially ran on August 7, 2004, when Boyd was 77.

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References

  1. Holt, Gordy (23 January 2007). "L.M. Boyd, 1927-2007: Nothing trivial about 'Mike Mailway'". Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
  2. Whiting, Sam (30 December 2000). "L.M. Boyd's Last Column in the Bag / After 40 years, 'the Love and War Man' retires". SF Gate.
  3. Heli, Rick. "The L.M. Boyd Column's Parade of Errors". www.rick-heli.info.