TV – Whickers World

Whickers World Season 5

Season 5 – Whicker’s Walkabout: Seven Scenes From Down Under

In this series Whicker turns his keen gaze at Australia, where he encounters more unconventional characters – from Nevadan ranchers to professional gamblers. His journey begins with a visit to Norfolk Island in the South Pacific – home to the descendants of the Bounty mutineers.

Credit : Archive_Archive

S05E01: Husbands Shy Clear of Me, Boy…!

July 27, 1970 ITV1

Whicker visits Norfolk Island, a tiny piece of paradise drifting through the South Pacific where the descendants of the Bounty Mutineers live, the seamen who set Captain Bligh adrift in an open boat and returned to their Tahitian women. Today most islanders are still called Young, McCoy, Adams, Quintal, making isolated Norfolk an 18th Century storeroom of people – the way we used to be, once upon a time. They speak a unique dialect, a soft and joyful blend of West Country English and Tahitian. Their most indomitable character is Girlie Christian, 76-year-old descendant of Fletcher Christian who tells an extraordinary story. Girlie is a television original.

Credit : Archive_Archive

S05E02: So He Put The Policeman’s Wife In The Family Way …

August 3, 1970 ITV1

Norfolk Island has no taxes, and nothing that bites or stings; its pigs are fed on wild peaches, and cattle have right of way. When Whicker first visited the island ten years ago, it seemed so appealing that many viewers emigrated. He now discovers whether they are living happily ever after.

Credit: Norfolk Islander

Whicker’s Walkabout caused a “mini” exodus from England

“I first visited Norfolk Island in 1960 and its friendliness prompted me to find my own island home.

This speck between Australia and New Zealand is a paradise where nothing bites or stings”.

These were some of the words Alan Whicker used to describe some of his favourite places that he had visited during the production of his BBC and Yorkshire Television programme “Whicker’s World”.

The segment of his first visit to Norfolk Island was played in England on a cold, miserable Winter’s day in 1960 and was instrumental in the late Bill Underwood and his wife Marian (pictured above), packing up their belongings lock, stock and barrel and making the long trip to start a new period in their lives on Norfolk Island.

They were two of the many British migrants who made the long journey to Norfolk Island after this programme.

Both Bill and Marian became involved in local community activities such as the A. and H. Society, the Musical and Dramatic Society, the Hospital Board, the Country Womens Association, the Royal Far West Children’s Health Scheme and many other community organisations.

After a long and happy time with us, Bill died and was buried at the Kingston Cemetery on the 15th October 1983. Marian returned to Australia with her daughter Sheila and died on 19th November 1994.

Her ashes were interred next to Bill’s grave on 20th December 1994. This week we had the pleasure of meeting up with the daughters of Bill and Marian and their families – Sheila and Mike Francis and son Guy and his wifeMegan and children Maya and Jude; their daughter Clare and husband Toby Whitfield and children Eliza and Jonah. Pat and Neil Cowell and Pat’s daughter – Sarah Farmer and her husband Nelson Saunders and their children Lily and Ella who are pictured below with third daughter Susan Stephens from New Zealand.

As can be gathered, the daughters followed Mum and Dad to the ‘Colonies’, but their son William (Berry) is still in England. William was in the RAF, stationed in Singapore, when Marian and Bill decided to immigrate to Norfolk Island. He returned to England to try and persuade them not to go, but all in vain. Son William did make a trip to Norfolk to visit his parents.

During the 50th year reunion, family members gathered at Kingston, where the grandchildren said words of affection to the grandparents they never knew and the gathering ended with the following words of a poem written by daughter Sheila Francis –

“Rest in Peace, beneath this site.

On beautiful Norfolk Island

Your work is done, your tale is told.

We offer our thanks hand in hand”.

For the interest of long time residents, Alan Donald Whicker CBE (4th August 1921 – 12th July 2013) was a British journalist and television presenter and broadcaster. His career spanned almost 60 years, during which time he presented the documentary television programme Whicker’s World for over 30 years. He was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 2005 for services to broadcasting.

In 2010, the presenter named his four favourite places as Bali saying it was an island at the “centre of the universe,” Hong Kong, where he had been visiting for 60 years along with Austria’s capital. He said the “Viennese have perfected the art of civilised drinking.He also picked Norfolk Island in the Pacific: “A gentle corner of paradise, 12,000 miles from Britain and about 1,000 miles from anywhere else.”

He made a second trip to Norfolk in July 1970 and a segment of the programme was entitled – “Husbands Shy Clear of Me, Boy…!” The programme summary goes on to record “Whicker visits Norfolk Island, a tiny piece of paradise drifting through the South Pacific where the descendants of the Bounty Mutineers live, the seamen who set Captain Bligh adrift in an open boat and returned to their Tahitian women. Today most islanders are still called Young, McCoy, Adams, Quintal, making isolated Norfolk an 18th Century storeroom of people – the way we used to be, once upon a time. They speak a unique dialect, a soft and joyful blend of West Country English and Tahitian. Their most indomitable character is Girlie Christian, 76-year-old descendant of Fletcher Christian who tells an extraordinary story. Girlie is a television original.

Credit:

https://thetvdb.com/series/whickers-world/allseasons/official

http://www.norfolkislander.com/images/12th_April_2014.pdf

FAQs

Q What happened to Alan Whicker ?

Tributes paid after TV travel guru Alan Whicker dies ...
13th July 2013

TRIBUTES have been paid to the globe-trotting broadcaster Alan Whicker, who brought the lives of the jet set into millions of homes for more than 60 years, following his death aged 87.

Whicker succumbed to bronchial pneumonia yesterday at the house in Jersey where he lived with his partner Valerie Kleeman.

He presented Whicker's World and also sent himself up in a series of memorable Barclaycard TV advertisements from some exotic locations.

Michael Palin was one of the Monty Python's Flying Circus team who parodied his presenting style in a TV skit in which all the inhabitants of a sunshine island dressed imitated him. He said yesterday Whicker was "a great character, a great traveller and an excellent reporter".

Presenter and writer Stephen Fry said Whicker's death was sad news.

Fellow reporter turned presenter Sir Michael Parkinson said he was "a fine journalist and great storyteller".

Actor Martin Kemp said Whicker had "introduced him to the world".

Judith Chalmers, former presenter of the BBC's Holiday programme, said he had encouraged people to travel to far flung places, adding: "Wherever Alan Whicker went, people wanted to go."


Egypt-born Whicker fronted the show from 1958 to 1998, on the BBC and ITV. The former war correspondent had been on BBC's Tonight programme, before being given his own programme. He interviewed Joan Collins, Peter Sellers, the Sultan of Brunei, reclusive billionaire John Paul Getty and the Haitian president Papa Doc Duvalier in his distinctive relaxed style.

Ms Kleeman said she is "lucky to have shared" his life. She added: "A few years ago a poll asked who was the most envied man in the country– and Alan won by a country mile.

"He said that he didn't know where work ended and private life began. Quoting Noel Coward, he would say 'work is more fun than fun'.

"On this last journey he will arrive curious, fascinated, and ready for a new adventure."

Whicker was honoured with the Richard Dimbleby Award at the Baftas in 1978 for his contribution to broadcasting. He received a CBE in 2005.

In 2010, the presenter named his four favourite places as Bali saying it was an island at the "centre of the universe," Hong Kong, where he had been visiting for 60 years along with Austria's capital. He said the "Viennese have perfected the art of civilised drinking. He also picked Norfolk Island in the Pacific: "A gentle corner of paradise, 12,000 miles from Britain and about 1,000 miles from anywhere else."

He also put his TV success down to luck, adding: "I suppose I was in the right place at the right time. I was working on the Exchange Telegraph [news agency] and I took a leap from there."

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