Alan Whicker

Alan Donald Whicker (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.

Background

Whicker was born to British parents in Cairo, Egypt, in 1921. When he was three years old his father Charles became seriously ill and the family moved to Richmond in Surrey, where he and his mother remained after the death of his father. He attended Haberdashers' Aske's Boys School, where he excelled at cross-country running. During the Second World War he was commissioned as an officer in the Devonshire Regiment of the British Army. He then joined the British Army's Army Film and Photographic Unit in Italy in 1943, filming at Anzio and meeting such influential figures as Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery. However, he did not think much of American commander Mark Clark, saying on ''Whicker's War'' (2004) of the general: 'He should have been put up against a wall and shot'. He was also responsible for taking into custody British traitor John Amery.

Elsewhere in ''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. Whicker also shot footage of the body of Benito Mussolini.

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
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