Book description
The iconic broadcasting legend dusts down his suitcase for a final
journey around the globe, revisiting locations of significance to his
life and career.
"You might say I'm set in my airways. I'm one of those lucky
people whose professional and private lives blend exactly."
Alan Whicker, 2007
This sumptuous book to accompany the major BBC TV series of the same
name, is a glorious celebration of 50 years in front of the camera.
For as long as most can remember, Whicker 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
was first screened, he has probed and dissected the often secretive and
unobserved 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.
The great man's legacy contains a number of genuine TV firsts. As well
as landmark interviews with figures as diverse as Papa Doc, Paul Getty
and The Sultan of Brunei, he was a pioneer, covering subjects like
plastic surgery, gay weddings, polygamy, swinging and following
gun-toting cops, fly-on-the-wall style, for British screens long before
anyone else.
This wonderful new book is the end product of a very personal journey.
Whicker retraces his steps, catching up with some past interviewees and
reflecting on how the world has changed - for good and bad - over the
passing of time. Journey of a Lifetime is lyrical, uplifting and
peppered with our favourite globetrotter's brand of subtle satire.
"Not only is Alan Whicker a friend of mine, he's my hero."
Sir Michael Parkinson Born in Cairo in 1925, Alan Whicker attended
Haberdashers' Aske's School, London, before serving as captain in the
British Army during World War II and then as a director with the Army
Film and Photo Section. His long and extremely distinguished career
includes positions as a newspaper war correspondent in Korea, foreign
correspondent, novelist, writer, radio broadcaster and host of the
landmark show Whicker's World between 1959 and 1993. He has worked for
the BBC and ITV, has been broadcast by Channel 4 and has been a producer
and host for numerous television specials and documentaries. In 2005 he
was awarded a CBE.
