Nicholas Whittaker (born 1953) is a British writer of non-fiction books on popular culture, often incorporating autobiographical extracts from his own life. He was born in

Shrewsbury Shrewsbury ( , also ) is a market town, civil parish, and the county town of Shropshire, England, on the River Severn, north-west of London; at the 2021 census, it had a population of 76,782. The town's name can be pronounced as either 'Sh ...

and lived in

Burton upon Trent Burton upon Trent, also known as Burton-on-Trent or simply Burton, is a market town in the borough of East Staffordshire in the county of Staffordshire, England, close to the border with Derbyshire. In 2011, it had a population of 72,299. The ...

until 1975. Whittaker has worked as a freelance journalist for pornographic magazines, interviewing figures such as Ray Cooney,

Divine Divinity or the divine are things that are either related to, devoted to, or proceeding from a deity.divine< ...

Donald Sinden Sir Donald Alfred Sinden (9 October 1923 – 12 September 2014) was a British actor. Sinden featured in the film ''Mogambo'' (1953), and achieved early fame as a Rank Organisation film star in the 1950s in films including ''The Cruel Sea (195 ...

Steve Harley Steve Harley (born Stephen Malcolm Ronald Nice; 27 February 1951) is an English singer and songwriter, best known as frontman of the rock group Cockney Rebel, with whom he still tours, albeit with frequent and significant personnel changes. E ...

, Justin de Villeneuve,

Uri Geller Uri Geller ( ; he, אורי גלר; born 20 December 1946) is an Israeli-British illusionist, magician, television personality, and self-proclaimed psychic. He is known for his trademark television performances of spoon bending and other i ...

and

Kingsley Amis Sir Kingsley William Amis (16 April 1922 – 22 October 1995) was an English novelist, poet, critic, and teacher. He wrote more than 20 novels, six volumes of poetry, a memoir, short stories, radio and television scripts, and works of social ...

for '' Club International''.

Books

Whittaker’s first book was ''Platform Souls'', published in 1995 on the subject of the British hobby of trainspotting. It follows his progress from the dying days of the

steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the loco ...

in Britain (1964-1968), through the so-called Rail Blue diesel era of the 1970s, and his travels around Britain and Europe, by rail. The book ends with his failed attempts to interest his young sons in what was once a common hobby for a majority of British boys. ''Blue Period'' (1997) was an autobiographical piece about Whittaker’s years working for pornographic magazines, notably '' Fiesta'' and then the Paul Raymond publications '' Razzle'', '' Men Only'' and '' Club International''. The book contrasts the popular and accepted mythologies of sexual liaisons in the magazines with the more mundane reality of Whittaker's own romantic experiences. ''Sweet Talk'' (1998), subtitled "The Secret History of Confectionery", was a popular history of British confectionery. It told the story of

sweets Candy, also called sweets (British English) or lollies (Australian English, New Zealand English), is a confection that features sugar as a principal ingredient. The category, called ''sugar confectionery'', encompasses any sweet confection, i ...

chocolate Chocolate is a food made from roasted and ground cacao seed kernels that is available as a liquid, solid, or paste, either on its own or as a flavoring agent in other foods. Cacao has been consumed in some form since at least the Olmec ci ...

liquorice Liquorice (British English) or licorice (American English) ( ; also ) is the common name of ''Glycyrrhiza glabra'', a flowering plant of the bean family Fabaceae, from the root of which a sweet, aromatic flavouring can be extracted. The liqu ...

chewing gum Chewing gum is a soft, cohesive substance designed to be chewed without being swallowed. Modern chewing gum is composed of gum base, sweeteners, softeners/ plasticizers, flavors, colors, and, typically, a hard or powdered polyol coating. Its t ...

and

ice cream Ice cream is a sweetened frozen food typically eaten as a snack or dessert. It may be made from milk or cream and is flavoured with a sweetener, either sugar or an alternative, and a spice, such as cocoa or vanilla, or with fruit such as ...

from the late 19th century up until the end of the 20th, much of it seen through the perspective of sweet shops, school children and stories in the popular press. The book draws from a century’s worth of trade magazines such as ''Sweet Shop Owner'' and ''Confectionery News.'' Published in 2001, Whittaker's ''Toys Were Us'' takes a look at toys and games from the mid 19th century to the final years of the 20th.''The Independent'' (Wednesday Review), 12 December 2001. The book was based on research in toy trade journals and is an overview of childhood favourites such as

Hornby Dublo Hornby Railways is a British model railways manufacturing company. Its roots date back to 1901 in Liverpool, when founder Frank Hornby received a patent for his Meccano construction toy. The first clockwork train was produced in 1920. In 1938, ...

Monopoly A monopoly (from Greek language, Greek el, μόνος, mónos, single, alone, label=none and el, πωλεῖν, pōleîn, to sell, label=none), as described by Irving Fisher, is a market with the "absence of competition", creating a situati ...

and

Spirograph Spirograph is a geometric drawing device that produces mathematical roulette curves of the variety technically known as hypotrochoids and epitrochoids. The well-known toy version was developed by British engineer Denys Fisher and first sold ...

. In August 2015 Icon Books published a revised and updated 20th anniversary edition of Platform Souls

References

Sources

* ''The Express on Sunday'', 21 September 1997, “Why This Man Deserves Respect”, London * ''Railway Magazine'', June 2006, “Ale By Rail: the Burton Brewery Lines", London * ''The Guardian (Finance)'', April 19, 1997, “Blue Money Rises to the Top”, London * ''Landmark Intermediate English (Unit 5)'', OUP, 2002

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Whittaker, Nicholas 1953 births Living people Writers from Shrewsbury People from Burton upon Trent