ALAN DONALD WHICKER. Born in Cairo, Egypt, 2 August 1925. Attended Haberdashers' Aske's School, London. Served as captain in Devonshire Regiment during World War II; director, Army Film and Photo Section with British 8th Army and U.S. 5th Army. Newspaper war correspondent in Korea; foreign correspondent, novelist, writer and radio broadcaster; joined BBC television, 1957, and presented nightly film reports from around the world for Tonight, as well as studio interviews and outside broadcasts; participated in first Telstar two-way transmission at opening of United Nations, 1962; host, Whicker's World, BBC, 1959-60; helped launch Yorkshire Television, 1967; left BBC, 1968; producer and host, numerous television specials and documentaries and further series of Whicker's World; worked for BBC, 1982-92; returned to ITV, 1992. Fellow, Royal Society of Arts, 1970. Recipient: numerous awards, including Screenwriters Guild Best Documentary Script Award, 1963; Guild of Television Producers and Directors Personality of the Year, 1964; Royal Television Society Silver Medal, 1968; University of California Dumont Award, 1970; Hollywood Festival of TV Best Interview Program Award, 1973; British Academy of Film and Television Arts Dimbleby Award, 1978; TV Times Special Award, 1978; Royal Television Society Hall of Fame, 1993. Address: Le Gallais Chambers, St Helier, Jersey, England.

TELEVISION SERIES

1957-65 Tonight
1959-60 Whicker's World
1961 Whicker Down Under
1962 Whicker on Top of the World!
1963 Whicker in Sweden
1963 Whicker in the Heart of Texas
1963 Whicker Down Mexico Way
1964 Alan Whicker Report Series: The Solitary Billionaire          (J. Paul Getty)
1965-67 Whicker's World
1968 General Stroessner of Paraguay
1968 Count von Rosen
1968 Papa Doc--The Black Sheep
1969 Whicker's New World
1969 Whicker in Europe
1970 Whicker's Walkabout
1971 World of Whicker
1972 Whicker's Orient
1972 Broken Hill--Walled City
1972 Gairy's Grenada
1972 Whicker within a Woman's World
1973 Whicker's South Seas
1973 Whicker Way Out West
1974-77 Whicker's World
1976 Whicker's World--Down Under
1977 Whicker's World: US
1978 Whicker's World: India
1979 Whicker's World: Indonesia
1980 Whicker's World: California
1980 Peter Sellers Memorial Programme
1982 Whicker's World Aboard the Orient Express
1982 Around Whicker's World in 25 Years
1982 Whicker's World--The First Million Miles
1984 Whicker's World--A Fast Boat to China
1984 Whicker!
1985 Whicker's World--Living with Uncle Sam
1987-88 Whicker's World--Living with Waltzing Matilda 1990 Whicker's World--Hong Kong
1992 Whicker's World--A Taste of Spain
1992 Around Whicker's World--The Ultimate Package! 1992 Whicker's World--The Absolute Monarch
1993 Whicker's Miss World
1993 Whicker's World--The Sun King
1994 Whicker's World Aboard the Real Orient Express 1994 Whicker--The Mahatir Interview
1994 Pavarotti in Paradise

FILM

The Angry Silence, 1960.

RADIO

Start the Week (chair); Whicker's Wireless World, 1983.

PUBLICATIONS (selection)

Within Whicker's World: an Autobiography. London: Elm Tree, 1982.

Whicker's New World. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1985.

Whicker's World Down Under. London: Collins, 1988.

 

See also British Programming; Tonight

 

 

   

Alan Whicker is a globe-trotting television commentator without equal. For some forty years, on behalf of both the BBC and independent British television networks, he has roamed far and wide in search of the eccentric, the ludicrous and the socially-revealing aspects of everyday life as lived by some of the more colourful of the world's inhabitants.

Since the late 1950s, when the long-running Whicker's World documentary series was first screened, the bespectacled Whicker--a former journalist and reporter for television's Tonight programme (he was once reported dead while working as a war correspondent in Korea)--has probed and dissected the often secretive and unobserved private worlds of the rich and famous, rooting out the most implausible and sometimes ridiculous characters after gaining admittance to the places where they conduct their leisure hours. These have ranged from fabulously appointed cruise ships and the Orient Express to cocktail parties, world tours, health spas and gentlemen's clubs. His focus has been truly international, with series from Australia, the Indian continent and Hong Kong as well Britain and the United States.

Whicker's satire is so subtle it is often almost undetectable. The objects of his interest are allowed to condemn or to recommend themselves and their way of life almost entirely through their own words and appearances, with often little more than the odd encouraging question or aside from Whicker himself. With long-practiced ease and studied diffidence he infiltrates the most select clubs and institutions and moves almost invisibly from person to person, seeking out the most promising individuals and, generally, being more than amply rewarded with the results. Never aggressive in his questioning and carefully cultivating the image of the relaxed but politely interested ex-patriot ready to accept the world as it comes, he has lured countless individuals into allowing him a privileged glimpse of sometimes extraordinary lives.

On occasion over the years Whicker has concentrated his attention upon a single individual, usually someone of immense influence or prestige who is rarely seen in the public eye. Attracted by the air of mystery surrounding such personages, he has drawn general conclusions about the problems and privileges of living with wealth and power through his detailed portraits of such enigmatic and sometimes deeply disturbed (and disturbing) figures as billionaire John Paul Getty, Paraguay's General Stroessner and Haiti's greatly feared dictator "Papa Doc" Duvalier. Sometimes the tone is openly critical, but more often the viewer is allowed to draw his own conclusions.

Whicker's World, over the years, has consistently claimed a place in the top ten ratings and Whicker himself has been widely recognized for his talents as a social commentator, winning numerous major awards.

-David Pickering