TV Presenter PR
TV Presenter PR
ALAN WHICKER COLLECTION NOW AVAILBLE TO VIEW AT BFI SOUTHBANK AS PART OF LATEST ACQUISITIONS EXHIBITION
ALAN WHICKER COLLECTION NOW AVAILBLE TO VIEW AT BFI SOUTHBANK AS PART OF LATEST ACQUISITIONS EXHIBITION
Inside Whicker’s World: The life and travels of Alan Whicker
- Alan Whicker collection on view now as part of an exhibition of material from the BFI National Archive’s Special Collections; ‘Latest Acquisitions’ is free to view in the Mezzanine Gallery at BFI Southbank until October 23
- Items on display include Alan Whicker’s passports, a BBC Audience report for Whicker Down Under, interview question cards for Papa Doc: The Black Sheep (1969) and The World of James Bond (1967), photographs, correspondence, and shooting schedules
- Test your knowledge by taking part in a travel quiz made by the Whicker’s World Foundation – https://whickersworldfoundation.com/2016/10/quiz-how-well-do-you-know-whickers-world/
- Submissions for Whicker’s World Foundation Awards 2017 are now being accepted
As well as caring for one of the world’s richest and most significant moving image collections, the BFI National Archive also holds world-class Special Collections of scripts, posters, designs, photographs and other documents, including the archives of some of Britain’s most important film and programme makers. This exhibition presents highlights from some of our exciting recent acquisitions including the papers of Oscar-winning costume designer Jenny Beavan, television journalist and documentary-maker Alan Whicker, and S John Woods, the man behind many of the best-loved Ealing Studios posters. The exhibition is open now and free to view until October 23rd 2016 at BFI Southbank, Mezzanine Gallery, Belvedere Road, London SE1 8XT.
The BFI National Archive is now home to the archives of pioneering investigative TV journalist, Alan Whicker, donated by Valerie Kleeman, Whicker’s World Foundation. The collection contains meticulous records of one of the most enduring and influential careers in British television history, spanning the late 1950s into the 21st century.
This is an extensive and significant donation covering the entire career of a world-renowned broadcaster, and represents a unique insight into the production methods of a master documentarian. Alan Whicker’s name is a by-word for brilliantly crafted and revealing studies of people and places, whether exploring behind the scenes of the Miss World competition, interviewing Papa Doc in Haiti, or exposing the lifestyles of the hippies of San Francisco, with an enquiring mind and a sceptical tone. This unlikely figure, clad in Gucci tie and blazer, found his way into the nation’s hearts as he went where his audience was unlikely to follow.
The meticulously kept Alan Whicker archive spans the years 1938-2014. It includes a school report from 1938, documents relating to his war career and letters, photographs, extensive production files, audience reports, interview notes and questions (including Whicker’s hand-annotated question cards) and transcripts of every TV programme he made, along with some, as yet, unidentified films. The archive gives an insider’s view of some of the key events, social trends and personalities of the 20th century, while fully documenting the changing world of television reportage across more than five decades.
Around Whicker’s World in 13 Guesses
Test your knowledge of Alan Whicker’s Life and Work by taking part in our quiz
https://whickersworldfoundation.com/2016/10/quiz-how-well-do-you-know-whickers-world/
Submissions for Whicker’s World Foundation Awards 2017 are now being accepted
The Funding Award
This is the primary focus of Whicker’s World Foundation. Each year £80,000 will be awarded to a new director with the most promising pitch for an authored documentary which fulfils the core criteria of the Foundation and can be completed for screening with this award. The money will be paid in instalments to the director’s film company, enabling a project which deserves to reach as wide an audience as possible. This year it was won by Alex Bescoby for Burma’s Lost Royals. The closing date for entries is 31st January 2017 and the shortlists will be announced in May 2016. Entrants must be aged 35 years or younger on the closing date for applications. The first winners will be announced by Whicker’s World Foundation at the Sheffield Doc/Fest Award Ceremony, which will take place on the final night of the 2017 festival, 13th June 2017.
The Whicker’s World Radio and Audio Funding Award (RAFA)
For 2017 we are introducing a new Funding Award for Radio and Audio documentary projects in association with the Radio Academy. This is for a documentary, 15 minutes or over, broadcast or published online in the previous year. The Whicker’s World Radio and Audio Funding Award (RAFA) has a £5,000 first prize and £2,000 runner up award. The deadline for this award is the 23rd of December, with the best pitch being announced at a special event in March 2017.
The Recognition Awards
In addition to our funding awards there are two further annual prizes to recognise completed work: the ‘Audio Award’ and the ‘Sage Award’, the latter of which is for the finest industry newcomer over the age of fifty.
Alan worked in radio before TV and was snapped up by Radio 2 in the late 1990s, adding what Jim Moir, the Controller from 1996 to 2003, described as “great lustre to my network”. Initially Alan’s radio programmes revolved around re-visiting his most memorable encounters from Whicker’s World: from the ‘Ten Pound Poms’ to Margaret Rutherford’s transsexual adoptee who ‘gave birth’ to a mixed-race daughter in South Carolina. He went on to create a radio history of television called It’ll Never Last.
Whicker’s World Foundation will award an annual £5,000 prize for the best audio project of over 15 minutes in length, broadcast in the last year. A runner-up will receive £2,000.
The Whicker’s World Sage Award
‘Retirement’ was not a word in Alan’s vocabulary. He was 83 when he wrote and presented Whicker’s War, a much acclaimed account of his army experiences in Italy for Channel 4. He made his last series for BBC Two, Journey of a Lifetime, in his late eighties. The Sage award will recognise a TV or audio professional who has come to air with an authored story for the first time, a prize of £5,000 will be awarded annually to an applicant aged 50 plus. Submissions of no more than 10 minutes; this can be for presentation but must be their own work. A runner-up will receive £2,000. Keith Earnest Hoult won this award for for Fluechtlinge – Refugee. Keith, a fan of Alan Whicker’s ‘gentle approach’ to interviewing, was inspired to create a ten-minute film about Syrians seeking refuge in a disused airport used for the Berlin Airlift. When he witnessed his friend’s wife Caroline trying to help refugees against a growing backlash he ‘felt the urge to film it if only for her family to reflect on later in life’. Keith learnt his film-making skills at the SAE Institute after redundancy and divorce turned his life upside-down. Judges were impressed that he made this entirely self-funded film as ‘a simple tale of ordinary people helping other ordinary people at their time of most desperate need.’
For further details on the awards and entry forms please go to
www.whickersworldfoundation.com
-ENDS
Notes to editors:
For images, media information and interviews please contact:
Siobhan Connor at Connor PR siobhan@connorpr.com + 44 (0) 7966 177025
For Terms and Conditions and award Criteria please go to http://whickersworldfoundation.com/application-forms/
Join the conversation: facebook.com/whickersworldfoundation
https://twitter.com/whickersworld @whickersworld
About Whicker’s World Foundation
On 7 June 2015 Whicker’s World Foundation, whose principle aim is to give a much needed fillip to authored documentary storytelling in the UK, launched three new documentary awards worth over £100,000 for the promotion of curiosity in programme making, generously funded by a legacy left by the celebrated broadcast journalist Alan Whicker. The launch took place in the Sheffield Winter Gardens led by Alex Graham, chair or Doc/Fest, Jane Ray, Artistic Director for the foundation and Kim Longinotto, multi award winning filmmaker. Entries for 2017 Awards opened on September 26th 2016 www.whickersworldfoundation.com
Connor PR’s latest TV project 41 Dogs In My Three Bed Semi – Friday 9th October 2015, 8pm, Channel 5
41 Dogs In My Three Bed Semi
Friday 9th October 2015, 8pm, Channel 5
- Dog-mad Lynn Everett loves her pet dogs so much she shares her semi-detached home with 41 of them
- Meet animal owner of 60, Steve Lucock, who claims his appearance on Britain’s Got Talent contributed to a failed marriage and left him with a home full of animals
- Dog enthusiast Emmie Stevens, 27, is so devoted to her pets that she has spent £60,000 on pampering them – with two hounds even getting hitched
Lynn Everett
There are estimated to be 71 million pets in Britain today, and 45% of households now own at least one. However, for some, one is nowhere near enough. In this remarkable film, a Middlechild production – we reveal Britain’s most staggering animal obsessives and witness what happens when animal obsessions get out of hand; the animosity, the relationship breakdowns, the risk of losing everything, and the tales of people who love animals so much they collect dozens of them in their homes.
In this one-hour documentary screened on October 9th at 8.00pm on Channel 5, we meet 57-year-old dog-mad Lynn Morgan from Barnsley, a dog obsessive. Many people have one of their favourite breeds of dogs as a pet, Lynn has one in every colour! At last count, Lynn had 41 dogs, all living inside her modest semi-detached home. Lynn lives with 25 French Bulldogs, six Chinese Crested dogs and 10 Miniature English Bull Terriers.
41 Dogs in a 3 bed Semi
We follow Britain’s Got Talent performer Steve Lucock and his 60 animals as he battles to put food in the mouths of his beloved wild family, whilst attempting to feed his own obsession; and dog-lover Emmie Stevens from Croydon who has a paw print tattooed on her wedding finger.
Lynn Everett and husband, Tony Morgan, live amongst their 41 dogs in her three-bedroomed semi on a very normal-looking street in Barnsley. The dogs are free to roam the downstairs of the house and share the sofas with Lynn and Tony. 41 is the maximum number the council will allow her to keep but if she could, she’d have many more. It’s a stressful existence living amongst 41 dogs and Lynn and Tony have a very fiery relationship, especially when it comes to matters concerning the dogs.
41 Dogs in a 3 bed Semi
In this film, we learn all about their lifestyle and witness the effect it has on their relationship. We meet Lynn’s disabled dogs and she explains how she gives every dog a chance, no matter how much it costs her. We reveal that Lynn breeds some of her more prized pooches and that this helps fund the upkeep of her extra-large family.
Lynn leaves the house just once a year, to go on a scouting mission to Crufts. Lynn began by breeding Bull Terriers but soon found that she couldn’t bear to part with them once born. She has sold some of her more prized puppies in the past but even though she has been breeding dogs since she was 18, she admits it’s becoming nearly impossible to let any new ones go. And now, as long as she sticks within the 41 she’s allowed, instead of selling, she’s buying too! Lynn has five chest freezers and spends £280 on tripe each month to feed her pets. She also buys copious amounts of fabric softener for the dogs’ blankets and there are beds set up for them in the front room.
Not many people could cope with the set-up the couple have in the house but Lynn’s personality seems to suit it perfectly. The worst consequence of their lifestyle choice is the abuse they attract from outsiders who don’t believe the dogs can be healthy or happy in such an environment. This has resulted in substantial trolling over the Internet, on dog-based forums and social media. The pinnacle of the abuse came during Christmas 2014, when a brick was thrown through their window.
Meanwhile in Blyth, Northumberland, animal addict 47-year-old Steve Lucock was at the peak of his career as a magician in the mid-2000s, performing around the country with his wife as his on stage assistant. As Steve is so obsessed with animals, he based their entire show around them. When their act featured on the TV show Britain’s Got Talent, the exposure resulted in 100 animals in need of a home being dropped on their doorstep, in addition to the 60 they already had! Steve’s reluctance to part with the new animals put a strain on his marriage, eventually leading to divorce and plunging Steve in financial disarray.
Not every animal act on Britain’s Got Talent goes the same way as Pudsey or Matisse it seems. Now, unemployed and without a performing partner, Steve has been forced to reduce the number of animals he lives with back to a more modest level of 60. Steve’s living room is home to a parrot and around the rest of the house you’ll find dogs, cats, meerkats, owls, raccoons, skunks, snakes, turtles, rats, doves, rabbits and Steve’s showpiece… his foxes.
The foxes are house-trained and his red fox, identical to the ones who roam the streets at night, is as tame as a ‘well-trained dog’. He often takes his fox when he entertains at children’s parties, much to the amazement of the attendees, who cannot believe how domesticated it is. Steve’s animal obsession has had serious financial repercussions. He only manages to feed his animals through donations given to him after shows he puts on for free locally. However, he is determined to continue growing his collection and is always on the lookout for new additions. In this film, we follow Steve as he tries to turn his fortunes around. We witness a rather tragic performance at a holiday camp and see evidence of Steve’s problems with money. However, he’s come up with a new idea for a show that he hopes will be a big hit on the kids’ party scene. Called Animalgique, it tells the story of the animals’ struggle against man and what children can do to help. Steve rehearses his show and promotes it around Blyth before the big night of his premiere arrives.
In Wiltshire, Mary Cunningham’s small house is overrun with cats. For many years she’s been taking them in and providing homes to any that are offered to her. Her whole life revolves around her feline family. Mary’s house is also brimming with clutter, she claims that this in fact just ‘stock’. Mary raises money for her cats by visiting car boot sales and fetes, selling her ‘stock’. In this film we learn that Mary faces the threat of eviction if the number of cats increases in her home, or if she can’t maintain the property. We watch as Mary attempts to secure a pitch at the biggest event of the year, The Calne Summer Festival and Carnival. If she can get a stall there, she’ll clear a lot of her ’stock’ and make enough money to do some decorating.
Emmie Stevens’ is an animal obsessive in training – her current 12 dogs are some of the most pampered pooches in the country. Emmie, 27, from Croydon, South London, is obsessed with dressing up canines and even calls them her children. Over the past seven years she has spent £60K on them. To Emmie, her dogs are her children and she feels a very maternal connection to them. As she says, “parents like dressing their children up” and that’s precisely what she does with her dogs. She has a whole room devoted to their outfits. Recently, Emmie married two of her dogs at a lavish ceremony attended by 30 of their best doggie friends. In the film we learn that Emmie’s addiction to dogs started after enduring years of confidence-destroying bullying before buying her first dog, Doodles. The love and happiness she got from him, and the compulsion to care that grew inside her, drove her to seek that ‘buzz’ over and over again. If there was more room in her house she’d have more dogs and one day Emmie fully intends on increasing her collection.
-Ends-
Connor PR promoting 41 Dogs In My Three Bed Semi, Connor PR expert in TV promotion
Very sad to hear about the death of TV psychic Colin Fry who I worked with at Living TV on Most Haunted & 6ixth Sense
I worked with Colin Fry for over 5 years launching his programmes on Living TV.
One very proud moment was landing a five page feature in The coolest magazine of the day The Face back in the early noughties
Colin Fry, who has died aged 53, was a self-proclaimed medium who relayed messages from “the dead” to audiences in Australia, New Zealand, Norway and Japan; on British satellite television he featured in such “paranormal reality” shows as Most Haunted and 6ixth Sense.
Viewers hoping for dire warnings from beyond the grave would be disappointed. A warm and charismatic performer, Fry’s stage pronouncements tended towards the prosaic. Bereaved grandchildren were instructed to tidy their rooms; dead parents reassured their offspring that the end had been relatively peaceful.
Sceptics countered that Fry’s main talent lay in basic “cold reading” techniques – the art of analysing body language in order to make high-probability guesses about a person. In 1992 Fry was caught out at a seance when the lights were turned on unexpectedly, revealing that he was still holding a “spirit trumpet” that was meant to be suspended in mid-air. Fry later put the incident down to his relative inexperience at the time. He also denied any suggestions of exploitation, pointing to his training as a bereavement counsellor. Members of his audience were encouraged to seek professional help if Fry felt they were struggling to cope with their loss.
Though he had initially refused to appear on television on the grounds that most programmes made fun of spiritualism, Fry gave in when he was approached by producers at the age of 40. The format of the shows, however, tended once again towards the banal. A message broadcast before 6ixth Sense admitted that “differing opinions exist as to the true nature of clairvoyance and clairaudience”. None the less, the subject has proved adaptable to the small screen. Most Haunted completed its 17th series in 2015.
Colin Fry was born on May 19 1962 in Haywards Heath, West Sussex. His mother, Margaret, a student nurse, had intended to remain at home after the birth but suffered from post-partum depression and decided that work would be beneficial. Colin was raised in large part by his maternal grandmother, Lilian, with whom he shared a close – he would say psychic – bond.
From an early age, Colin became aware of an ability to perceive things that other members of his family could not. A vision of an old man – “like a taller, slightly thinner version of [Doctor Who] William Hartnell” – at the foot of his bed was a first glimpse of “Magnus”, who would become Fry’s proclaimed “spirit guide” in adulthood. Aged four, Colin announced to the table at teatime that “Old Nanny”, his great-grandmother, had died. A telegram to that effect arrived the next day.
After leaving school at 16 without any qualifications, Fry worked in the retail industry while giving demonstrations at spiritualist churches. But it was not until his stepbrother, Michael, died of Aids in 1996 that he resolved to become a full-time medium. Fry had nursed Michael for many years, and saw a chance to keep the relationship intact. “But he’s very clever,” he explained in 2003: “He’ll often pass messages to me through other mediums.”
Fry went on to become a reverend of the Spiritualist Church, and wrote several books on spiritual and mental well-being. A memoir, The Happy Medium, was published in 2012. The title seemed to contradict a life that had had its share of physical hardship. He became partially deaf aged 23 and relied on hearing aids in later years. Last April he was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer.
A heavy smoker, he recalled an earlier encounter with a fellow spiritualist, who disapproved: “This old love said to me: ‘That’ll kill you, you know.’ I replied: ‘My love, do you honestly think that bothers me? I know where I’m going.’”
Colin Fry is survived by his civil partner, Mikey.
Colin Fry, born May 19 1962, died August 25 2015 – The Daily Telegraph
Tribute to the Queen of Saturday Night Television from a Blind Date contestant
I am so sad to hear about Cilla Black. She was the queen of Saturday night TV when I was growing up! Blind Date owned Saturday night in the 90s and I was very lucky to be part of it. Cilla had a great sense of humour and what you saw on television was the real Cilla. There was no pretence about her, she was the queen of entertainment. Like many others, Blind Date helped pave my way for a career in TV and I’m still in touch with some of the production team. I went onto work with Cilla when she launched her own show on Living TV. I was number three and picked by Keith from Dublin. We won a trip to the Turks and Caicos Islands and it was magical. Flew First Class and Suggs from Madness was on the plane. Happy memories!
Siobhan Connor contestant on Blind Date, Siobhan Connor MD of Connor PR pays tribute to Cilla Black,
Whicker’s World Foundation launches new documentary awards at Sheffield Doc Fest
Whicker’s World Foundation launches new documentary
awards at Sheffield Doc Fest
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Three awards worth a total of £100,000
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Supporting authored storytelling in the UK
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First winners to be announced at Sheffield Doc/Fest 2016
Sunday 7th June at Sheffield Doc/Fest: the new Whicker’s World Foundation, whose principle aim is to give a much needed fillip to authored documentary storytelling in the UK, today launches three new documentary filmmaker awards worth a total of £100,000 for the promotion of curiosity in programme making, generously funded by a legacy left by the celebrated broadcast journalist Alan Whicker, who died in 2013. Details of the Whicker’s World Foundation and the awards will be announced by filmmaker Kim Longinotto at a special event at Doc/Fest, following the screening of Whicker’s World: Conflict in Kentucky.
Says Mark Atkin, Acting Festival Director, Sheffield Doc/Fest: “I am very enthused that this foundation aims to encourage authored documentary at a time when TV is becoming increasingly formatted and when most foundations have requirements to promote social issues. This is exactly what the industry needs right now”.
The three awards – the Funding Award (worth £80,000 / £10,000 runner up) to a debut filmmaker under 30 years of age; the Recognition Award (worth £4,000 / £1,000 runner up) to the finest industry newcomer aged 50 years of age or over; and the Best Audio Documentary (worth £4,000 / £1,000) to be awarded at the In The Dark audio festival, also part of Doc/Fest – will be looking for a spirit of inquisitiveness that will leave the viewer wanting more, and tell something new and unexpected about the world.
The panel of judges, chaired by Valerie Kleeman, photographer, programme consultant and Whicker’s partner for more than 40 years, will also be looking for projects that are playful with how the story is told, either breaking new ground, or taking a familiar path to come up with a new style.
The Alan Whicker Foundation consultant, top ranking international TV executive Jane Mote, says: “Whicker’s World opened my eyes to the most amazing stories, people and places. Alan’s unique style and sharp wit was inspirational and I am so excited to be part of creating a Foundation to nurture the future trailblazers for international documentary film-making”.
Jane Ray, the Consultant Artistic Director for the Foundation is a multi-award winning documentary maker and executive producer in radio and television with a journalistic background and nearly 28 years’ service at the BBC. Her awards range from the Sony Award for best news programme (2002) and the TRIC award for best children’s programme (1993) to China’s Golden Kapok award for best director (2014). She worked with Alan throughout the 90s on various projects for radio. She also wrote and directed Radio 4’s archive programme about Alan: Around the World in 80 Years, presented by Michael Palin.
The first award winners will be announced by the Whicker’s World Foundation at the Sheffield Doc/Fest Award Ceremony, which will take place on the final day of the 2016 festival.
Ends
For further information for Whicker’s World Foundation contact:
Siobhan Connor siobhan@connorpr.com
+ 44 (0) 7966 177025
For further information for Sheffield Doc/Fest contact:
Sarah Harvey Publicity
+44 (0) 207 232 2812
+44 (0) 7958 597426
Sarah Harvey sarah@sarahharveypublicity.co.uk
Nikki Cummins nikki@sarahharveypublicity.co.uk
Joe Bond joe@sarahharveypublicity.co.uk
Join the conversation:
facebook.com/whickersworldfoundation
https://twitter.com/whickersworld
About Doc/Fest:
Sheffield Doc/Fest is the UK’s premier documentary and digital media festival. It is the place to see world and UK premieres of the best creative documentaries from the cinema, television and online arenas, and to hear from and meet filmmakers at Q&A sessions. Highlights of the film programme are honoured with an award programme including the Sheffield Grand Jury, Innovation, Environmental, Interactive, Youth Jury, Inspiration, Student Doc, Short Form and Audience Awards. In 2014, 3,263 full festival pass holders attended the Festival and it attracted over 26,700 members of the film-loving public.
Sheffield Doc/Fest 2015 takes place from 5-10 June
Connor PR launching the Whicker’s World Foundation, Connor PR expert in travel PR, Connor PR expert in presenter PR, Connor PR specialist in TV publicity
Gypsies, Come Dancing!
Press Release
Gypsies, Come Dancing!
Forget Got to Dance and Strictly Come Dancing, telly bosses are currently battling it out for the rights to bring an even more sequined dance event to our screens, the World Gypsy Dance Championships! The first and only worldwide contest for dancers from the Gypsy, Roma, Traveller community is to be hosted in London later this year. Organisers have already begun the worldwide search for the next Gypsy dance star, and are expecting stiff competition for the coveted gold medal.
Running the contest is Irish Romany Gypsy, Róisín Mullins, a former Irish Dance World Medallist and dancer with Michael Flatley’s Lord of the Dance. Róisín has judged thousands of Gypsy acts, including performing horses, in TV talent shows such as Travellers Got Talent and Gypsy and Traveller Face of the Year, alongside singers David Essex and Jentina. But now Róisín will be encouraging Travellers to swap their twenty stone wedding dresses for flamenco skirts, hitch up their wagons, and hit auditions at Traveller fairs, sites and events throughout the UK.
Róisín Mullins said: “The World Gypsy Dance Championships is a fantastic opportunity for dancers to take centre stage. We have already seen singers from the community make it on TV talent shows, but for me, the dancers represent our culture best”.
Joining Róisín to organise the contest will be her Gypsy partner, Irish dance show producer, Jack Jacobs. The pair are keen to show off a more positive side to the community, at what they hope will be the biggest gathering of gypsy dancers in history. Event organiser Jack is particularly excited about revealing the community’s hidden talent.
Jack Jacobs said: “The contest is a real first for the Gypsy and Traveller community. There are some incredibly talented dancers out there, and traditional dance styles that we, in the UK, have never seen before. So the chance to pull Gypsy dancers together from all over the world to compete against one another will be an amazing site”.
Celebrities rumoured to be taking a seat on the judging panel alongside Róisín include world famous Gypsy dancers, and stars from the BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing.
As well as heavily diamented costumes and fake tan, the contest promises to deliver an all out battle of traditional versus modern, with Flamenco and Irish dancing facing off against hip hop and street dance.
Entrants can compete in any dance style, but must be from a Gypsy, Roma or Traveller background.
To enter visit www.worldgypsydancechampionships.com
Press Enquiries:
For all media enquiries please contact: siobhan@connopr.com Tel: 07966 177025 or Jack Jacobs at jackjacobs@live.co.uk
Connor PR entertainment PR Specialist, Connor PR working with Gypsies, Come Dancing
Connor PR secures front cover of Independent on Sunday
Connor PR secures front cover of Independent on Sunday for Seeds of Hope
Expose of sexual violence in conflict
Memorial held for TV globetrotter Alan Whicker
Memorial held for TV globetrotter Alan Whicker
Yesterday I attended the Memorial Service of my dear friend Alan Whicker at The Grosvenor Chapel in London’s Mayfair.
Sir Michael Parkinson and Monty Python star Michael Palin were among the guests.
Former BBC boss Michael Grade described Whicker as “one of the corner stones of the golden age of British television”.
Whicker died in July 2013 after a TV career lasting nearly six decades.
He was best known for Whicker’s World which ran from 1959 to 1988 on both the BBC and ITV.
He had… eyebrows that could speak a thousand words when raised slightly at the right moment.”
Lord Grade
“Alan Whicker belonged to that very exclusive club of gifted individuals who over so many decades consistently delivered memorable programmes for what is more usually such a transitory medium,” Lord Grade said.
“He had that unmistakable voice with its delicate inflections so easily mimicked, eyebrows that could speak a thousand words when raised slightly at the right moment… and an unerring instinct to know when to listen.”
Whicker’s dapper dress sense – which included his trademark smart blazer and tie – made him one of the most recognised figures on television.
Palin, who spoofed Whicker in a Monty Python sketch, said Whicker was “a towering figure” in the world of television.
He said Whicker had the “enviable ability to deliver introductions and summings up that were as crisp and precise as the clothes in which he delivered them”.
Palin recalled how he had been the fourth person the BBC had asked to present travel series Around the World in 80 Days, the first choice having been Whicker.
“I was later told – apocryphally I’m sure – that the reason he turned it down was that the BBC, in soliciting the great man’s services, had taken him out to lunch at the Pizza Hut in Shepherd’s Bush.
“Alan didn’t do Pizza Hut.”
Sir Michael Parkinson said Whicker had “inspired an entire generation of young journalists” to seek a television career.
“He never let celebrity cloud the business of being a proper journalist,” he added.
Whicker’s long list of famous interviewees included Peter Sellers, Joan Collins, the Sultan of Brunei and notorious Haitian dictator ‘Papa Doc’ Duvalier.
Reference Tim Masters, BBC http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-27606893
Connor PR expert in publishing PR, Connor PR expert in Travel PR, Siobhan Connor worked with Alan Whicker
Connor PR working on The Dog Rescuers, Channel 5, Tuesday 8th October, 7.30pm
Connor PR working with Middlechild and GroupM Entertainment production on a new programme for Channel 5 ‘ The Dog Rescuers’
The Dog Rescuers
The Dog Rescuers
Coming soon to Channel 5, “The Dog Rescuers” a Middlechild and GroupM Entertainment production that follows the canine rescue work of the RSPCA across England and Wales.
With over 1.3 million reports of cruelty and mistreatment of animals made to the RSPCA every year, the charity is under increasing pressure to safeguard our nation’s pets from the constant threat of abusive owners and unscrupulous breeders. This series follows those inspectors and officers that deal with ensuring man’s best friend is being properly treated. Using the latest forensic technologies and good old fashioned leg work, the series follows the RSPCA inspectors as they track down and rescue some of the 150,000 animals which are abused and mistreated in the UK every year, and witnesses the struggle to rehabilitate the victimised animals and to prosecute the offenders.
Channel 5 gained access to a selected group of the RSPCA’s 350 inspectors across the country for four months, and our cameras followed inspectors investigating crimes of abuse against dogs and puppies in rural areas and inner cities, as poor living conditions, malnutrition, illegal mass-breeding, organised fights are eradicated all in the aid of saving dogs’ lives.
Despite the sometimes horrific findings, the 10 x 30’ series has positivity at its heart as it will also follow some of the RSPCA’s success stories as they seek to rehabilitate and eventually rehouse some of the 12,000 dogs which the charity rehomes every year.
David Sumnall, Series Producer commented: “We are a nation of dog lovers but over 50% of RSPCA’s prosecutions last year were for cases involving abuse to dogs, so I think this is a really important series. We’ve been able to highlight the plight of these animals and show the incredible work that is being done to rescue and rehome them. It has been tough to witness the neglect at times but to be there as the dogs and puppies are saved and to see them with their new families has made it all worth it.”
Greg Barnett, Commissioning Editor, Entertainment, Daytime & Soaps said: “This series will have a tremendous impact on all those that watch. Some of the circumstances and conditions in which the RSPCA inspectors find dogs is unbelievably horrible. We’re trying to get as many dogs rehoused in loving homes as possible across the series run, putting the heart back into having a family pet and thereby giving four legged friends in need a second chance”
Alan Laxton, RSPCA Broadcast Executive:
The RSPCA rescues, rehabilitates and rehomes thousands of dogs a year across England and Wales. It’s great that The Dog Rescuers gives audiences the chance to see the dedication, hard work and passion all RSPCA staff have for making the lives of these dogs better. Some of the stories can be shocking, but The Dog Rescuers also shows the heart warming, happy endings that the RSPCA strives to give to every dog that comes into our care.