English writer

Alan Ross McWhirter (12 August 1925 – 27 November 1975) was, with his twin brother, Norris, the co-founder in 1955 of Guinness Book of Records (known since 2000 as Guinness World Records) and a contributor to the television programme Record Breakers. He was killed by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) in 1975.

Contents

• 1 Early life
• 2 Career
• 3 Political activity
• 4 Views on Ireland
• 5 Killing
• 6 Selected bibliography
• 7 See also
• 8 References
• 9 External links

Early life

McWhirter was the youngest son of William McWhirter, editor of the Sunday Pictorial, and Margaret "Bunty" Williamson. He was born at "Giffnock" (after Giffnock Church in Glasgow, where the McWhirters were married), 10 Branscombe Gardens, Winchmore Hill, London, N21. In 1929, as William was working on the founding of the Northcliffe Newspapers Group chain of provincial newspapers, the family moved to "Aberfoyle", in Broad Walk, Winchmore Hill. Ross McWhirter was educated at Chesterton School, Seaford, Marlborough College and Trinity College, Oxford. Between 1943 and 1946, Ross served as a sub-lieutenant with the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve on board a minesweeper in the Mediterranean.

Career

Ross and Norris both became sports journalists in 1950. In 1951, they published Get to Your Marks, and earlier that year they had founded an agency to provide facts and figures to Fleet Street, setting out, in Norris McWhirter's words "to supply facts and figures to newspapers, yearbooks, encyclopaedias and advertisers".

While building up their business, they both worked as sports journalists. One of the athletes they knew and covered was runner Christopher Chataway, an employee at Guinness who recommended them to Hugh Beaver. After an interview in 1954 in which the Guinness directors enjoyed testing the twins' knowledge of records and unusual facts, the brothers agreed to start work on the book that would become The Guinness Book of Records. In August 1955, the first slim green volume – 198 pages long – was at the bookstalls, and in four more months it was the UK's number one non-fiction best-seller. Both brothers were regulars on the BBC show Record Breakers. They were noted for their encyclopedic memories, enabling them to provide detailed answers to questions from the audience about entries in The Guinness Book of Records. Norris continued to appear on the programme after Ross's death.

In 1958, long after the legend of William Webb Ellis as the originator of rugby had become engrained in rugby culture, Ross managed to rediscover his grave in le cimetière du vieux château at Menton in Alpes Maritimes (it has since been renovated by the French Rugby Federation).

Political activity

In the early 1960s, he was a Conservative Party activist and sought, unsuccessfully, the seat of Edmonton in the 1964 general election. Following his killing, his brother and others founded the National *ociation for Freedom (later The Freedom *ociation).

Views on Ireland

McWhirter advocated various restrictions on the freedom of the Irish community in Britain, such as making it compulsory for all of them to register with the local police and to provide signed photographs of themselves when renting flats or booking into hotels and hostels. In addition, McWhirter offered a £50,000 reward for information leading to a conviction for several recent high-profile bombings in England that were publicly claimed by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA). In doing so, McWhirter recognised that he could then be a target himself. This was described as a bounty by McWhirter, and considered a bounty by the IRA Army Council, a view that led directly to the events that followed, although the idea was not originally his, but that of John Gouriet.

Killing

On 27 November 1975 at 6.45:p.m., McWhirter was shot and killed by two IRA terrorists, Harry Duggan and Hugh Doherty, both of whom were members of what became known as the Balcombe Street Gang, the group for whose capture McWhirter had offered the reward. McWhirter was shot at close range in the head and chest with a .357 Magnum revolver outside his home in Village Road, Bush Hill Park. He was taken to Chase Farm Hospital, but died soon after being admitted. Duggan and Doherty were apprehended following the Balcombe Street siege and charged with murdering McWhirter, in addition to nine other victims. They were sentenced to life imprisonment, but released in 1999 under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement.

Selected bibliography

Sports and general encyclopædia

• Get To Your Marks (1951, with Norris McWhirter) OCLC:963645353
• The Guinness Book of Records (1955–1975, with Norris McWhirter)
• Ross: The Story of a Shared Life (Norris McWhirter) ISBN:0-902782-23-1, OCLC:3540709
• Ross Was Right – The McWhirter File (Covenant Pub., 29 September 2014) ISBN:978-085205-118-4, OCLC:911093351

See also

• List of journalists killed in Europe

References

External links

• TV presenter Ross McWhirter shot dead @ BBC News, On This Day, 27 November 1975.

Personalities
(Volunteers)

• Paddy Agnew
• Martina Anderson
• Declan Arthurs
• Thomas Begley
• Ivor Bell
• Antoine Mac Giolla Bhrighde
• Patricia Black
• Ruairí Ó Brádaigh
• Charles Breslin
• Paul Butler
• Joe Cahill
• Liam Campbell
• Fergal Caraher
• Malachy Carey
• Owen Carron
• Gerard Casey
• Carál Ní Chuilín
• Breandán Mac Cionnaith
• Gabriel Cleary
• Peter Cleary
• Kevin Coen
• Eamon Collins
• Dáithí Ó Conaill
• Eddie Copeland
• Marion Coyle
• Gerard Davison
• Matt Devlin
• Hugh Doherty
• Joe Doherty
• Kieran Doherty
• Martin Doherty
• Pat Doherty
• Colin Duffy
• Rose Dugdale
• Dessie Ellis
• Mairéad Farrell
• William Fleming
• Kieran Fleming
• Bernard Fox
• Angelo Fusco
• Michael Gaughan
• John Francis Green
• Dessie Grew
• George Harrison
• Brendan Hughes
• Francis Hughes
• Martin Hurson
• Pearse Jordan
• Gerry Kelly
• John Kelly
• Patrick Joseph Kelly
• Sean Kelly
• Jim Lynagh
• Proinsias Mac Airt
• Joseph MacM*
• Seán Mac Stíofáin
• Patrick Magee
• Paul Magee
• Donna Maguire
• Larry Marley
• Paul Marlowe
• Leo Martin
• Alex Maskey
• Pearse McAuley
• Daniel McCann
• Fra McCann
• Jennifer McCann
• Raymond McCartney
• Martin McCaughey
• Raymond McCreesh
• Joe McDonnell
• Séamus McElwaine
• Thomas McElwee
• Brendan McFarlane
• Gerry McGeough
• Pat McGeown
• John Joe McGirl
• Martin McGuinness
• Pádraig McKearney
• Tommy McKearney
• Billy McKee
• Kevin McKenna
• Laurence McKeown
• Michael McKevitt
• Thomas McMahon
• Jackie McMullan
• Martin Meehan
• Ian Milne
• Arthur Morgan
• Danny Morrison
• Conor Murphy
• Thomas "Slab" Murphy
• Kieran Nugent
• Ed O'Brien
• Éamonn O'Doherty
• Siobhán O'Hanlon
• Rita O'Hare
• Diarmuid O'Neill
• Dolours Price
• Marian Price
• Liam Quinn
• Paddy Quinn
• Billy Reid
• Bobby Sands
• Seán Savage
• Pat Sheehan
• Frank Stagg
• Jimmy Steele
• Bobby Storey
• Gerard Tuite
• Seamus Twomey
• Roy Walsh
• Séanna Walsh

Espionage and
Supergr*es

• Eamon Collins
• Denis Donaldson
• Joseph Fenton
• Kevin Fulton
• Raymond Gilmour
• Martin McGartland
• Sean O'Callaghan
• Freddie Scappaticci (allegedly "Stakeknife")

*ociates

• *ann na mBan
• Fianna Éireann
• South Armagh Republican Action Force
• Direct Action Against Drugs
• NORAID
• Clan na Gael
• Troops Out Movement

Derivatives

• Continuity Irish Republican Army
• Real Irish Republican Army

Prominent
killings

• Jeffery Stanford Agate
• Johnathan Ball
• Anthony Berry
• Robert Bradford
• Joe Bratty
• Matthew Burns
• Martin Cahill
• Eamon Collins
• Raymond Elder
• Gerard Evans
• Christopher Ewart-Biggs
• Joseph Fenton
• Billy Fox
• Maurice Gibson
• Ian Gow
• Heidi Hazell
• Donald Kaberry
• Andrew Kearney
• Baroness Brabourne
• William "Frenchie" Marchant
• Martin McBirney
• Jerry McCabe
• Jean McConville
• Columba McVeigh
• Ross McWhirter
• Stephen Melrose
• Lord Mountbatten
• Lenny Murphy
• Robert Nairac
• Thomas Oliver
• Tim Parry
• Paul Quinn
• Robert Seymour
• Robert McCartney (allegedly)
• Joseph Rafferty (allegedly)
• Ray Smallwoods
• Sammy Smyth
• Nick Spanos
• James Stronge
• Norman Stronge
• Richard Sykes
• Stephen Tibble
• Sammy Ward
• Michael Willetts