In 1939, assured by a travel agency that there would be no war, he visited North America with his mother to attend the World's Fair in New York City.
Due to a back injury as a teenager, Sinclair walked with a limp and used a cane until well into his twenties and was unfit for military service.
He enrolled at the University of British Columbia[2] where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in math and physics and began a lifelong friendship with classmate Pierre Berton.
[5] In 1945, Sinclair wrote a radio speech that Ontario Co-operative Commonwealth Federation leader Ted Jolliffe delivered during the 1945 provincial election campaign.
In addition to playwright he was a radio and television personality, writer, actor, panelist, producer, lecturer, commentator, and, for a brief period in the 1970s, network executive.
He was demoted to a more junior position as vice president of program policy and development in 1974 and in 1976 returned to Toronto to his former role as a producer and writer.
Dr. Robert Gardner, later the chair of the School of Radio and Television Arts at Ryerson University, recalled working with Sinclair during that difficult time.
[13] In 2002, Lister Sinclair became a MasterWorks honouree for Hilda Morgan and his body of work by the Audio-Visual Preservation Trust of Canada.
One of his last works was something of a hit after his official retirement entitled Lister Sinclair Presents the Masterpieces of Disco Music for the radio program Go.