Valerie kleeman biography

British journalist and broadcaster

Donald Alan WhickerCBE (2 August &#;– 12 July ) 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 for services to broadcasting.

Early life

Whicker was born to British parents in Cairo, Egypt, in ^{[note 1][3][4]} 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 independentboarding school, where he excelled at cross-country running.^[3]

Military service

During the Second World War he served in the British Army.^[5] He was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Devonshire Regiment on 8 August ^[6] He then joined the British Army's Army Film and Photographic Unit in Italy in ,^[4] filming at Anzio and meeting such influential figures as Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery.^[7] In March , he was mentioned in despatches "in recognition of gallant and distinguished services in Sicily".^[8] He transferred to the Royal Army Ordnance Corps on 1 April with the war substantive rank of lieutenant.^[9]

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.^[10] While in Milan Whicker shot footage of the body ofBenito Mussolini^[4] and was also responsible for taking into custody British traitor John Amery.^[7]

Broadcasting career

After the Second World War, Whicker became a journalist and broadcaster, acting as a newspaper correspondent during the Korean War.

After joining the BBC in , he became an international reporter for their Tonight programme. In , 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 s. 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 s, and he won a BAFTA Award in for his presentation in the Factual category;^[11] he also won the Richard Dimbleby Award at the BAFTA ceremony.^[11] Whicker was instrumental in launching Yorkshire Television (which made Whicker's World for some years), producing television programmes for them from until At the beginning of the ITV series, Whicker made Papa Doc – The Black Sheep ()^[12] on Haiti and its dictator François "Papa Doc" Duvalier who made himself available to Whicker and his team.^[13]

Whicker appeared in various adverts for American Express,^[7]Barclaycard,^[14] and was also the man behind the advertising slogan "Hello World", for travelocity.^[15] He narrated the and BBC documentary series Comedy Map of Britain.^[16]

In the New Year Honours Whicker was created a Commander of the Order of the British Empire for services to broadcasting.^[1] In , 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.^[17]

He was the subject of This Is Your Life in when he was surprised by Eamonn Andrews at the Berkeley Hotel in Kensington, London.^{[citation needed]}

Personal life

Whicker had a relationship with Olga Deterding from to ^[17] He was with his partner, Valerie Kleeman (who was 25&#;years his junior), from He neither married nor had children.^[17]

Death

Whicker died on 12 July from bronchial pneumonia at his home in Jersey, in the Channel Islands, aged ^[1][18][19] 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."^[1]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".^[1]

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 The Financial Times pointed out that his age had been queried, with school records showing his birthdate in August , making him 91 when he died.^[20]

In June it was announced that Whicker's estate would fund, through The Whickers,^[21] three annual awards totalling over £, to be awarded to documentary makers, including funding and recognition prizes for audio documentaries.^[22]

In popular culture

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.^[1]Benny Hill, towards the end of his BBC series in , impersonated Whicker in a parody called "Knicker's World".^[23]

He was parodied again in 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 song "1, 2, 3, 4 (Sumpin' New)".^[24] De Wilde also composed the theme tune for the s BBC episodes of Whicker's World.^[25]

References

Explanatory notes

Citations

External links