Arthur Black

Arthur Raymond Black (30 August 1943 – 21 February 2018) was a Canadian humourist and radio personality best known as the longtime host, from 1983 to 2002, of Basic Black on CBC Radio One which had a weekly audience of more than 600,000 listeners. He also wrote a series of 19 humorous books and for 40 years wrote a weekly humour column which began in 1976 in a local Thunder Bay newspaper called Lakehead Living and at its peak was syndicated to more than 50 newspapers in Canada and internationally. He was also a contributor to the regional weekend program Fresh Air for several years. Basic Black began as a national variety program from Thunder Bay before relocating to Toronto a few years into its run, and finally to Vancouver in 1995. After ending Basic Black in 2002, he could still be heard for about a decade, twice a week, on CBC Victoria's local All Points West program with a segment called "Planet Salt Spring".

Books Basic Black: The Wit and Whimsy of Arthur Black (1981) Back to Black (1986) Arthur! Arthur! (1991) That Old Black Magic (1989) Black by Popular Demand (1994) Black in the Saddle Again (1996) Black Tie and Tales (1999) Flashblack! (2002) Black & White and Read All Over (2004) Pitch Black (2006) Black Gold (2006) Black to the Grindstone (2007) Planet Salt Spring (2009) audiobook Black is the New Green (2009) A Chip Off the Old Black (2010) Looking Blackward (2012) Fifty Shades of Black (2013) Paint the Town Black (2015) Harbour Publishing