WITHIN WHICKER’S WORLD

 Alan Whicker, Elm Tree Books 1982.

We have travelled the world for 25 years with Alan Whicker (at 1982!) – the man who actually has been everywhere. His familiar voice and style have shown us life in the palaces of Palm Beach and Rajasthan, the slums of Rio and Bombay. At his side we’ve come to know villains and nuns, to meet matadors and witchdoctors, to be entertained by Prices and Presidents, to observe the brave and the bizarre….Yet so tirelessly has he explored others that all we usually see of him on television is what he considers his best side: the back of his head.

Whicker has lived a life that for most of us can only be fantasy, cheerfully guiding us around the Chaco, the Outback, the South Pacific….With him we stopped that train in the Alaskan wastes, watched that facelift in Beverley Hills, met malevolent Dictators, society matrons and Stone Age men….He has been shot at, arrested, leaned-upon – but always emerged unruffled with the candid confidences of the most interesting characters around.

So why should everyone feel that they can confide in him? What made Paul Getty, the Duchess of Alba and Papa Doc throw open their palaces? Why did Robin Douglas-Home weep, Olga Deterding get involved, Peter Sellers foresee a death, Tony Hancock end on the cutting room floor? Come to that, what happened in the orgy room at Plato’s Retreat when the lights went on? And how does he feel about Kathy’s remould – and Monty Python?

Apart from the fact that the price has been cut out of the inside flap of the dust jacket, both the book and the dust jacket are in very good condition. The book is illustrated with black and white photographs.