Neil Lundy

Neil Lundy was born in Toronto Canada in 1946 and grew up in The Beaches, the same neighborhood as pianist Glenn Gould (whom Neil later met as a radio announcer at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, CBC) and filmmaker Norman Jewison (both attended the same local high school, Malvern Collegiate Institute.) Neil also attended Neil McNeil High School, where actor John Candy was a fellow student. Neil Lundy began his career in 1965 at CKAR-FM Huntsville in Ontario, Canada. Over the next several years he worked for numerous radio stations in southern Ontario. In 1975 Lundy joined the CBC in Toronto as a radio announcer. In 1980 Neil was seconded to the Canadian Forces Network (CFN) radio and television at the NATO Canadian Forces Base (CFB) Lahr/Schwarzwald, in Germany's southwestern Black Forest region, as part of the Cold War effort. In 1987 Neil Lundy was chosen as the TV anchorman for European Journal, a weekly news magazine program produced by Deutsche Welle, Germany's international public service broadcaster in Cologne. European Journal aired in 54 countries including PBS in the US. Neil also covered many major news events throughout Europe including the fall of the Berlin Wall, a story about Irish moonshine, crime in Moscow, the Homeless of Amsterdam, Marijuana in Amsterdam, Trafficking in Women in Amsterdam, Same-sex marriage in The Netherlands, American films in French cinemas, Abortion in Italy, Gun laws in Belgium and a year after the closure of the Canadian Forces Base (CFB) in Lahr Schwarzwald in 1995; this report is now on permanent display at the Lahr history museum (Stadtmuseum Lahr.) While at European Journal Neil won three international journalism awards at the New York Press Club (NYPC.) Neil's other features include an interview with former German chancellor Helmut Schmidt for Japanese television and freelance reports for CNN and NBC in the U.S. He was one of the first western journalists to gain entry and do stories from Albania, Uzbekistan and the civil war in Somalia. In 1993 Neil moved to London, England and began his new position as Bureau Chief and European correspondent for Global television, one of Canada's national broadcasters. After living in Europe since 1980, Lundy moved back to his home city of Toronto in 1996. Neil then became active as an independent writer and producer after winning a one-million-dollar grant from Canada's Millennium Scholarship Foundation for a project on the 20th century's peacemakers entitled The Wounded Dove. Famed actor and acquaintance Martin Sheen agreed to provide narration for the project but it was never completed due to all broadcasters refusing it, often exclaiming as their reason of refusal: "war sells, not peace!". A trailer for The Wounded Dove and Lay Down Your Arms exist on Neil Lundy's YouTube channel. In 2009 Neil Lundy wrote and produced a 25-minute documentary entitled Birthing at Home, featuring Neil's wife Louise (whom he married in 1967), daughter Alexis (born in 1976) and mother Freida (1924-2010.) The documentary screened at the Rooftop Film Festival in New York, a much-loved city of Alexis's. In the years since, Neil Lundy has mainly been a provider of archival footage to Oddball Films in San Francisco, California. Neil Lundy also produced a son (Thomas in 1972) and is a grandfather to four (two from both his children.)