Richard Whiteley
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John Richard Whiteley (28 December 1943 – 26 June 2005) was an English presenter, and journalist, best known for his twenty-three years as host of the
game show A game show is a genre of broadcast viewing entertainment (radio, television, internet, stage or other) where contestants compete for a reward. These programs can either be participatory or Let's Play, demonstrative and are typically directed b ...
''
Countdown A countdown is a sequence of backward counting to indicate the time remaining before an event is scheduled to occur. NASA commonly employs the terms "L-minus" and "T-minus" during the preparation for and anticipation of a rocket launch, and eve ...
''. ''Countdown'' was the launch programme for
Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...
at 4:45 pm on 2 November 1982, and Whiteley was the first person to be seen on the channel (not counting a programme montage). Despite his intelligence, Whiteley enjoyed projecting the image of an absent-minded eccentric. His trademarks were his jolly, avuncular manner, fondness for
pun A pun, also known as paronomasia, is a form of word play that exploits multiple meanings of a term, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect. These ambiguities can arise from the intentional use of homophoni ...
s, and his bold, sometimes garish wardrobe. Thanks to over twenty years' worth of nightly instalments of ''Countdown'' as well as his work on the Yorkshire magazine programme ''
Calendar A calendar is a system of organizing days. This is done by giving names to periods of time, typically days, weeks, months and years. A date is the designation of a single and specific day within such a system. A calendar is also a physi ...
'' and various other television projects, at the time of his death Whiteley was believed to have clocked more hours on British television screens—and more than 10,000 appearances—than anyone else alive, apart from Carole Hersee, the young girl who appeared on the BBC's
Test Card F Test Card F is a test card that was created by the BBC and used on television in the United Kingdom and in countries elsewhere in the world for more than four decades. Like other test cards, it was usually shown while no programmes were being ...
.


Early life

John Richard Whiteley was born 28 December 1943 in
Bradford Bradford is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Bradford district in West Yorkshire, England. The city is in the Pennines' eastern foothills on the banks of the Bradford Beck. Bradford had a population of 349,561 at the 2011 ...
,
West Riding of Yorkshire The West Riding of Yorkshire is one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the administrative county County of York, West Riding (the area under the control of West Riding County Council), abbreviated County ...
, and spent his childhood in
Baildon Baildon is a town and civil parish in the Bradford Metropolitan Borough in West Yorkshire, England and within the historic boundaries of the West Riding of Yorkshire. It lies north of Bradford city centre. The town forms a continuous urban ...
: his family owned a long-established textile mill, Thomas Whiteley and Co of Eccleshill, which went out of business in the 1960s. At 13, he won a scholarship to
Giggleswick School Giggleswick School is a public school (English independent day and boarding school) in Giggleswick, near Settle, North Yorkshire, England. Early school In 1499, Giggleswick School was founded on half an acre of land leased by the Prior an ...
,
Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...
, where his English teacher was
Russell Harty Frederic Russell Harty (5 September 1934 – 8 June 1988) was an English television presenter of arts programmes and chat shows. Early life Harty was born in Blackburn, Lancashire, the son of greengrocer Fred Harty, who ran a fruit-and-veget ...
. He later became a governor of the school. Leaving school with seven
O-level The O-Level (Ordinary Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education. It was introduced in place of the School Certificate in 1951 as part of an educational reform alongside the more in-dept ...
s and three
A-level The A-Level (Advanced Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education, as well as a school leaving qualification offered by the educational bodies in the United Kingdom and the educational aut ...
s, from 1962 he read English at
Christ's College, Cambridge Christ's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college includes the Master, the Fellows of the College, and about 450 undergraduate and 170 graduate students. The college was founded by William Byngham in 1437 as ...
.


Career


Early career

On leaving Cambridge in July 1965, Whiteley served three years as a trainee at ITN but left to join the newly created
Yorkshire Television ITV Yorkshire, previously known as Yorkshire Television and commonly referred to as just YTV, is the British television service provided by ITV Broadcasting Limited for the Yorkshire franchise area on the ITV (TV network), ITV network. Until 19 ...
in July 1968. In 1973 Whiteley and
Woodrow Wyatt Woodrow may refer to: People *Woodrow (name) Woodrow is an English given name which was originally an English surname which may originally derive from a toponym meaning "row of houses by a wood" in Old English. Other sources suggest the nam ...
presented the
Anglia Television ITV Anglia, previously known as Anglia Television, is the ITV franchise holder for the East of England. The station is based at Anglia House in Norwich, with regional news bureaux in Cambridge and Northampton. ITV Anglia is owned and operated b ...
documentary ''The Red Under the Bed'', about the trial of the Shrewsbury Two (
Des Warren Des Warren (10 October 1937 – 24 April 2004) was a British construction worker, trade union activist and – with Ricky Tomlinson – one of the Shrewsbury Two imprisoned for "conspiracy to intimidate" whilst picketing in Shropshire in 1972. Hi ...
and
Ricky Tomlinson Eric "Ricky" Tomlinson (born 26 September 1939) is an English actor. He is best known for his television roles as Bobby Grant in '' Brookside'', DCI Charlie Wise in ''Cracker'' and Jim Royle in '' The Royle Family'', and playing the titular cha ...
), which was broadcast on the day that the trial jury retired to consider their verdict. The programme, which was heavily critical of the trade union movement, is now considered to have swayed jurors into returning a guilty verdict and was later cited by the
Criminal Cases Review Commission The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) is the statutory body responsible for investigating alleged miscarriages of justice in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. It was established by Section 8 of the Criminal Appeal Act 1995 and bega ...
as evidence that the verdicts were unsound. Warren and Tomlinson's convictions were overturned in 2021. Speaking in 2017 about the documentary, Tomlinson claimed to be in possession of confidential documents proving that it had been funded and written by British intelligence services and that Whiteley had been employed by
MI5 The Security Service, also known as MI5 ( Military Intelligence, Section 5), is the United Kingdom's domestic counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), G ...
at the time of broadcast. Whiteley was bitten by a
ferret The ferret (''Mustela furo'') is a small, Domestication, domesticated species belonging to the family Mustelidae. The ferret is most likely a domesticated form of the wild European polecat (''Mustela putorius''), evidenced by their Hybrid (biol ...
on an edition of ''Calendar'' in 1977. The animal bit his finger for half a minute before its owner, Brian Plummer, prised it free. The clip is often repeated on programmes showing television out-takes, and Whiteley once joked that when he died, the headlines would read, ''"Ferret man dies"''. He said, "It's made a lot of people laugh, and it's been shown all over the world. It's 30-odd years since it happened, and I think I've been a great PR man for the ferret industry. Ferrets have a lot to be grateful for; to me, you see, they've become acceptable because one of them bit me."


''Countdown''

In 1982,
Yorkshire Television ITV Yorkshire, previously known as Yorkshire Television and commonly referred to as just YTV, is the British television service provided by ITV Broadcasting Limited for the Yorkshire franchise area on the ITV (TV network), ITV network. Until 19 ...
began to produce ''Countdown'', copying a French quiz show format, ''
Des chiffres et des lettres ''Des chiffres et des lettres'' (, "numbers and letters") is a French television programme. It was created by Armand Jammot and tests the numeracy skills and vocabulary of two contestants. It is one of the longest-running game shows in the world ...
''. Whiteley was chosen as host and continued with the show when
Jeremy Isaacs Sir Jeremy Israel Isaacs (born 28 September 1932) is a Scottish television producer and executive, opera manager, and a recipient of many British Academy Television Awards and International Emmy Awards. He won the British Film Institute Fellow ...
brought it to
Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...
as the first programme broadcast by the new station. Its first broadcast received over 3.5 million viewers, but the programme lost 3 million viewers for its second show. However, it gradually rebuilt its audience over the following weeks. It was as the host of ''Countdown'' that Whiteley became known to a wider audience in the United Kingdom outside the Yorkshire region. He was
nickname A nickname is a substitute for the proper name of a familiar person, place or thing. Commonly used to express affection, a form of endearment, and sometimes amusement, it can also be used to express defamation of character. As a concept, it is ...
d "Twice Nightly Whiteley", in reference to the time when he would present the ''Calendar'' news programme and ''Countdown'' in the same evening, from 1982 to 1995. (In a self-deprecating joke, he often countered this with "Once Yearly, Nearly".) As the presenter of ''Countdown'', Whiteley developed a reputation for wearing garish suits and ties, and it was common for
Carol Vorderman Carol Jean Vorderman, HonFIET (born 24 December 1960) is a Welsh media personality, best known for appearing on the game show ''Countdown'' for 26 years from 1982 until 2008, as a newspaper columnist and nominal author of educational and diet ...
to comment on this. Whiteley also told many anecdotes and puns, which were often met by groans from other presenters and audience members. He was granted the honorary title of "
Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...
of
Wetwang Wetwang is a Yorkshire Wolds village and civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England, west of Driffield on the A166 road. At the 2011 census, it had a population of 761, an increase on the 2001 census figure of 672. Toponymy Th ...
" in 1998 and was known for his amusement at the village's name. ''Countdown'' was not intended to be a long-lasting format. Still, it quickly became a durable programme for Channel 4, at its peak enjoying a sizeable afternoon audience of almost five million. At the time of Whiteley's death, it still regularly attracted over a million viewers. Whiteley had a
cameo appearance A cameo role, also called a cameo appearance and often shortened to just cameo (), is a brief appearance of a well-known person in a work of the performing arts. These roles are generally small, many of them non-speaking ones, and are commonly eit ...
role as himself, presenting ''Countdown'', in the film '' About a Boy''. From series 54, broadcast in 2005, the series champion has received the "Richard Whiteley Memorial Trophy" in his honour. Following his death, Whiteley was replaced by
Des Lynam Desmond Michael Lynam, (born 17 September 1942) is an Irish-born television and radio presenter. In a broadcasting career spanning more than forty years, he has hosted television coverage of many of the world's major sporting events, presentin ...
.


Other work

Whiteley also had his own chatshow, ''Richard Whiteley Unbriefed'', on the BBC. His guests were unknown to him beforehand, so before he could interview them, he had to guess who they were. Whiteley was one of the first people to report on the 1984
Brighton hotel bombing A Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) assassination attempt against members of the British government took place on 12 October 1984 at the Grand Hotel in Brighton, East Sussex, England, United Kingdom. A long-delay time bomb was plan ...
, as he was staying in the hotel at the time. He was the subject of '' This Is Your Life'' in March 1997 when he was surprised by
Michael Aspel Michael Terence Aspel (born 12 January 1933) is an English retired television newsreader and host of programmes such as '' Crackerjack'', ''Aspel & Company'', '' Give Us a Clue'', ''This is Your Life'', '' Strange but True?'' and ''Antiques Ro ...
on the set of the ITV soap opera, ''
Emmerdale ''Emmerdale'' (known as ''Emmerdale Farm'' until 1989) is a British soap opera that is broadcast on ITV1. The show is set in Emmerdale (known as Beckindale until 1994), a fictional village in the Yorkshire Dales. Created by Kevin Laffan, '' ...
''. In 2001, Whiteley stood as rector for
University of Dundee The University of Dundee; . Abbreviated as ''Dund.'' for post-nominals. is a public university, public research university based in Dundee, Scotland. It was founded as a University college#United Kingdom, university college in 1881 with a donation ...
. On 15 June 2003, Whiteley appeared on the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
show, ''
Top Gear Top Gear may refer to: * "Top gear", the highest gear available in a vehicle's manual transmission Television * ''Top Gear'' (1977 TV series), a British motoring magazine programme * ''Top Gear'' (2002 TV series), a relaunched version of the or ...
'' and set the slowest time in the Star in a Reasonably-Priced Car segment with a time of 2:06.


Illness and death

In May 2005, Whiteley was taken into hospital with
pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severity ...
. He made a slow recovery from the illness, but doctors discovered problems with his heart and carried out an emergency operation for
endocarditis Endocarditis is an inflammation of the inner layer of the heart, the endocardium. It usually involves the heart valves. Other structures that may be involved include the interventricular septum, the chordae tendineae, the mural endocardium, or the ...
on 24 June. This operation was not successful and, two days later on 26 June, Whiteley died at
Leeds General Infirmary Leeds General Infirmary, also known as the LGI, is a large teaching hospital based in the centre of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, and is part of the Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust. Its previous name The General Infirmary at Leeds is stil ...
. He was buried at St John the Evangelist Church at
East Witton East Witton is a village and civil parish in Wensleydale in North Yorkshire, England. It lies south of Leyburn, in the Richmondshire district. Richard Whiteley is buried there; he and his partner, Kathryn Apanowicz, lived in the village. ...
. He had suffered from
asthma Asthma is a long-term inflammatory disease of the airways of the lungs. It is characterized by variable and recurring symptoms, reversible airflow obstruction, and easily triggered bronchospasms. Symptoms include episodes of wheezing, cou ...
since he was very young and also had
diabetes Diabetes, also known as diabetes mellitus, is a group of metabolic disorders characterized by a high blood sugar level ( hyperglycemia) over a prolonged period of time. Symptoms often include frequent urination, increased thirst and increased ap ...
. The edition of ''Countdown'' that was due to be broadcast on 27 June was postponed as a mark of respect. Carol Vorderman gave an emotional tribute to him on 28 June when ''Countdown'' returned, stating that "The clock stopped too soon". Several shows had already been recorded before he went into the hospital. His final show was broadcast on 1 July 2005, which was the grand finale of the 53rd series.


Memorials


Organ donation

Whiteley was an organ donor, and it was reported his corneas were donated to help two people.


Memorial service

On 10 November 2005, five months after his death, thousands of friends and admirers gathered at
York Minster The Cathedral and Metropolitical Church of Saint Peter in York, commonly known as York Minster, is the cathedral of York, North Yorkshire, England, and is one of the largest of its kind in Northern Europe. The minster is the seat of the Archbis ...
for a
memorial service A funeral is a ceremony connected with the final disposition of a corpse, such as a burial or cremation, with the attendant observances. Funerary customs comprise the complex of beliefs and practices used by a culture to remember and respect th ...
to celebrate Whiteley's life. Guests included Vorderman, who paid tribute to him, saying, "If he were here, he would have welcomed you one-by-one, greeting every one of you by the hand and would have wanted a photograph taken".


Richard Whiteley Memorial Bursary

In 2007, Channel 4 announced its creation of the Richard Whiteley Memorial Bursary, a nine-month work experience placement at Yorkshire Television, working with
True North Productions True North Productions is an independent British television production company based in Leeds, West Yorkshire. The company creates factual programmes and series in a wide variety of genres, including observational documentary, true crime, curr ...
.


Vision Aid Overseas

Three pairs of Whiteley's spectacles were donated by Kathryn Apanowicz, his longtime partner, to optical charity Vision Aid Overseas (VAO). Sent with a team of optical professionals to
Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...
, the VAO team found three Ethiopians whose eyes fitted Whiteley's prescription. The BBC followed this story on their '' Inside Out'' programme which was broadcast on 19 September 2007.


Giggleswick School

In 2008, three years after Whiteley's death,
Giggleswick School Giggleswick School is a public school (English independent day and boarding school) in Giggleswick, near Settle, North Yorkshire, England. Early school In 1499, Giggleswick School was founded on half an acre of land leased by the Prior an ...
announced its plans to raise £1.3m to build a theatre in his honour. The 288-seat theatre has been built at the school where Whiteley was a pupil and governor and provided a resource for the whole local community. Crews completed work on the second phase of the theatre in autumn 2010. The theatre now hosts a range of public performances.


Honours and private life

Whiteley was honoured with the Mayoralty of
Wetwang Wetwang is a Yorkshire Wolds village and civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England, west of Driffield on the A166 road. At the 2011 census, it had a population of 761, an increase on the 2001 census figure of 672. Toponymy Th ...
in 1998, became a Deputy Lieutenant of
West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. It is an inland and upland county having eastward-draining valleys while taking in the moors of the Pennines. West Yorkshire came into exi ...
in 2003, and was appointed OBE in the June 2004 Queen's Birthday Honours List for services to
broadcasting Broadcasting is the distribution (business), distribution of sound, audio or video content to a dispersed audience via any electronic medium (communication), mass communications medium, but typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum (radio ...
.


Bibliography


Books by Richard Whiteley

*''Letters Play!: a treasury of words and wordplay''. London: Robson *Whiteley, Richard (2000) ''Himoff!: the memoirs of a TV matinee idle'' London: Orion Books


Biographies

*Apanowicz, Kathryn (2006) ''Richard by Kathryn''. London: Virgin Books


TV appearances

* ''The Red Under the Bed'' (1973) * ''
Calendar A calendar is a system of organizing days. This is done by giving names to periods of time, typically days, weeks, months and years. A date is the designation of a single and specific day within such a system. A calendar is also a physi ...
'' (1968–1995) * ''
Countdown A countdown is a sequence of backward counting to indicate the time remaining before an event is scheduled to occur. NASA commonly employs the terms "L-minus" and "T-minus" during the preparation for and anticipation of a rocket launch, and eve ...
'' (1982–2005) * '' Hallelujah!'' (1983) * ''The Richard Whiteley Show'' (1995–1996) * ''Richard Whiteley Unbriefed'' (1999) * '' Have I Got News for You'' (Series 17, Episode 1, 1999) * ''Holiday: You Call the Shots'' (2001–2002) * ''
The Big Breakfast ''The Big Breakfast'' is a British breakfast light entertainment television programme that was broadcast on Channel 4. Originally presented by Chris Evans and Gaby Roslin, the show was latterly presented by Mo Gilligan and AJ Odudu. The pro ...
'' (final episode, 29 March 2002) * ''
Top Gear Top Gear may refer to: * "Top gear", the highest gear available in a vehicle's manual transmission Television * ''Top Gear'' (1977 TV series), a British motoring magazine programme * ''Top Gear'' (2002 TV series), a relaunched version of the or ...
'' (2003) * ''
SMTV Live ''SMTV Live'' (an abbreviation of ''Saturday Morning Television Live'', and also stylised as ''SM: LIVE'') was a British Saturday morning children's television programme, produced by Blaze Television for ITV. Operating on a similar format to o ...
'' (final episode, 27 December 2003) * ''
My Family ''My Family'' is a British sitcom created and initially co-written by Fred Barron, which was produced by DLT Entertainment and Rude Boy Productions, and broadcast by BBC One for eleven series between 2000 and 2011, with Christmas specials broadc ...
'' (2003) * Footage of Whiteley appears in the 2014 film ''
Pride Pride is defined by Merriam-Webster as "reasonable self-esteem" or "confidence and satisfaction in oneself". A healthy amount of pride is good, however, pride sometimes is used interchangeably with "conceit" or "arrogance" (among other words) wh ...
'', where he reports on the end of the
miners' strike Miners' strikes are when miners conduct strike actions. See also * List of strikes References {{Reflist Miners A miner is a person who extracts ore, coal, chalk, clay, or other minerals from the earth through mining. There are tw ...
.


References


Obituaries


"Richard Whiteley"
(''The Daily Telegraph'', 28 June 2005)
"Thousands say farewell to 'Our Richard'"
BBC News, 10 November 2005)

(''The Guardian'', 28 June 2005)


External links

*
UKGameshows: Richard Whiteley

Richard Whiteley
on CultIdols.com

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Whiteley, Richard 1943 births 2005 deaths Alumni of Christ's College, Cambridge British reporters and correspondents Countdown (game show) Deaths from endocarditis People with diabetes Deputy Lieutenants of West Yorkshire English game show hosts English male journalists English television presenters Infectious disease deaths in England Mayors of places in Yorkshire and the Humber Officers of the Order of the British Empire People educated at Giggleswick School People from Baildon Television personalities from West Yorkshire Yorkshire Television