Farewell to Whicker and His World

And so we bid farewell to Alan Whicker, who died today.  Whicker's World was a big part of my childhood.  Not only was Whicker's distinctive voice and delivery easy to imitate in the playground, but the programmes themselves provided a window on a world which, in those far off days when international travel was largely the preserve of the 'jet set', seemed incredibly far off and exotic.  Of course, as international travel increasingly came within the reach of the average person, so the raison d'etre of Whicker's World disappeared -  we didn't have to watch Whicker meeting eccentrics in California, for instance, when we could do it ourselves.  Just thinking about Alan Whicker makes me smile, as it takes me back to those great years of TV, when everything seemed so novel and exciting - there still seemed to be parts of the world that were unexplored and promised excitement and novelty.  Nowadays the world seems a much smaller place that we all know too well.

But Whicker had a more direct effect on me - he once gave some fashion advice when appearing as a guest on a chat show which has stood me in good stead ever since.  Eschewing the formal suit, he instead advocated the navy blue blazer, which could be worn casually with an open-necked shirt or, more formally, with a collar and tie.  Matched with similar coloured trousers, it could also pass muster for a suit, but was far more comfortable.  For many years, when I worked on Whitehall, such an ensemble was my standard dress.   But it wasn't just this impeccable sense of sartorial elegance that I liked about Whicker.  Back when I was a child and he was in his prime, Alan Whicker represented the image of Britishness  we liked to project to the world: dapper, courteous, apparently unflappable and an all round decent chap.  He was a gentleman at a time when such things as politeness and decency still seemed to matter.  He may have come from a typically middle class home counties background - the son of an army officer - which most people would assume that I loathed, but he seemed to embody those British values I still admire so much.  Values which seem to be in short supply these days.  Then again, maybe I'm just getting old.