Alan Whicker
Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox writer
Donald Alan Whicker Template:Post-nominals (2 August 1921 – 12 July 2013) was a British journalist and television presenter and broadcaster. His career spanned almost 60 years, during which time he presented the documentary television programme Whicker's World for over 30 years. He was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 2005 for services to broadcasting.
Early lifeEdit
Whicker was born to British parents in Cairo, Egypt, in 1921.Template:Refn<ref name="ODNB">Template:Cite ODNB</ref><ref name=indy>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> When he was two years old his father Charles, a British Army officer, became seriously ill with a heart problem and died. The family, now consisting of his mother Nancy, Alan and his elder sister Mary, moved to Richmond in Surrey. His sister soon died, too. He attended Haberdashers' Aske's Boys School, an all-boys independent boarding school, where he excelled at cross-country running.<ref name="ODNB" />
Military serviceEdit
During the Second World War he served in the British Army.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Devonshire Regiment on 8 August 1942.<ref name="LG 21 August 1942">Template:London Gazette</ref> He then joined the British Army's Army Film and Photographic Unit in Italy in 1943,<ref name=indy/> filming at Anzio and meeting such influential figures as Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery.<ref name=telegraphobit/> In March 1944, he was mentioned in despatches "in recognition of gallant and distinguished services in Sicily".<ref name="LG 21 March 1944">Template:London Gazette</ref> He transferred to the Royal Army Ordnance Corps on 1 April 1945 with the war substantive rank of lieutenant.<ref name="LG 24 August 1945">Template:London Gazette</ref>
In the documentary Whicker's War he revealed that he was one of the first in the Allied forces to enter Milan and that he took into custody an SS general and staff who were guarding the SS's paymaster's payroll money used to pay the SS troops, along with large amounts of cash in various foreign currencies, all contained within a large trunk. Whicker later handed over the SS men and the trunk of cash to the commander of an advancing US armoured column.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> While in Milan Whicker shot footage of the body of Benito Mussolini<ref name=indy/> and was also responsible for taking into custody British traitor John Amery.<ref name=telegraphobit/>
Broadcasting careerEdit
After the war, Whicker became a journalist and broadcaster, acting as a newspaper correspondent during the Korean War. After joining the BBC in 1957, he became an international reporter for its Tonight programme. In 1958, he started presenting Whicker's World, which began life as a segment on the Tonight programme before becoming a fully-fledged series itself in the 1960s. Whicker's World was filmed all over the globe and became a huge ratings success in the UK. Whicker continued to present the series up until the 1990s, and he won a BAFTA Award in 1964 for his presentation in the Factual category;<ref name=":0">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> he also won the Richard Dimbleby Award at the 1978 BAFTA ceremony.<ref name=":0" /> Whicker was instrumental in launching Yorkshire Television (which made Whicker's World for some years), producing television programmes for it from 1969 until 1992. At the beginning of the ITV series, Whicker made Papa Doc – The Black Sheep (1969)<ref>Tise Vahimagi {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> on Haiti and its dictator François "Papa Doc" Duvalier who made himself available to Whicker and his team.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Whicker appeared in various adverts for American Express<ref name="telegraphobit">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and Barclaycard,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and was also the man behind the advertising slogan "Hello World", for travelocity.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He narrated the 2007 and 2008 BBC documentary series Comedy Map of Britain.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
In the 2005 New Year Honours Whicker was created a Commander of the Order of the British Empire for services to broadcasting.<ref name=bbc/> In 2009, then aged 88, Whicker returned to some of the locations and people who were originally featured in Whicker's World for the BBC series Alan Whicker's Journey of a Lifetime. In this, he met various people whom he had interviewed decades earlier to see how their lives had progressed or changed since the initial programme.<ref name="lifetime">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
He was the subject of This Is Your Life in 1983 when he was surprised by Eamonn Andrews at the Berkeley Hotel in Kensington, London.Template:Citation needed
Personal lifeEdit
Whicker had a relationship with Olga Deterding from 1966 to 1969.<ref name="lifetime" /> He was with his partner, Valerie Kleeman (who was 25 years his junior), from 1969. He neither married nor had children.<ref name=lifetime/>
DeathEdit
Whicker died on 12 July 2013 from bronchial pneumonia at his home in Jersey, in the Channel Islands, aged 91.<ref name="bbc"/><ref name="DOB">Some sources, including The Times and The Financial Times, give his age as 91 when he died, based on a date of birth in August 1921.</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Broadcaster Michael Parkinson stated that Whicker was "a fine journalist and great storyteller", adding: "I can think of no other television reporter before or since who created such a wonderful catalogue of unforgettable programmes."<ref name=bbc/> Michael Palin said that Whicker was "a great character, a great traveller and an excellent reporter", while travel presenter Judith Chalmers said he was "an icon for the travel industry".<ref name=bbc/>
Most obituary writers said that Whicker was 87 at the time of his death, based on his entry in Who's Who giving a date of birth in 1925. The Financial Times pointed out that his age had been queried, with school records showing his birthdate in August 1921, making him 91 when he died.<ref name="crick_obituary">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
In June 2015 it was announced that Whicker's estate would fund, through The Whickers,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> three annual awards totalling over £100,000 to be awarded to documentary makers, including funding and recognition prizes for audio documentaries.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
In popular cultureEdit
While presenting Whicker's World, Whicker was known for his subtle brand of satire and social commentary. Whicker's World was parodied in a Monty Python's Flying Circus sketch featuring a tropical island, "Whicker Island", where all the inhabitants dress and act like Whicker.<ref name=bbc/> Benny Hill, towards the end of his BBC series in 1968, impersonated Whicker in a parody called "Knicker's World".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
He was parodied again in 1981 by the Evasions, a British funk group whose song, "Wikka Wrap", featured songwriter Graham de Wilde impersonating Whicker; the song was later sampled in American rapper Coolio's 1996 song "1, 2, 3, 4 (Sumpin' New)".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> De Wilde also composed the theme tune for the 1980s BBC episodes of Whicker's World.<ref>Graham de Wilde Retrieved 13 July 2013.</ref>
ReferencesEdit
Explanatory notes Template:Reflist
Citations Template:Reflist
External linksEdit
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