Norris McWhirter
Norris McWhirter, CBE (August 12, 1925 - April 19, 2004) was a writer, right wing political activist and television presenter. He and his twin brother, Ross McWhirter, were known internationally for the Guinness Book of Records, a book they together then he separately wrote and annually updated between 1955 and 1985.McWhirter was the son of a newspaper director. He came to particular public attention while working for the BBC as a sports commentator. On May 6, 1954, Norris McWhirter kept the time when Roger Bannister ran the first four minute mile. After the race, McWhirter began his announcement:
- As a result of Event Four, the one mile, the winner was R.G. Bannister of Exeter and Merton Colleges, in a time which, subject to ratification, is a track record, an English native record, a United Kingdom record, a European record, in a time of three minutes...
He was an active Conservative in the early 1960s and fought, unsuccessfully, to recapture Orpington in the 1964 general election after its loss to the Liberals in the 1962 by-election.
Both he and his brother held right-wing views on topics such as emigration, Rhodesia, British membership of the European Economic Community and Northern Ireland. Always vigorous campaigners for the liberty of the individual, in the 1970s they founded the 'National Association for Freedom', later 'The Freedom Association', which campaigned against what they saw as abuses of power not only by officialdom and the trade union movement in the U.K., but also the E.E.C in Brussels.
Ross McWhirter's criticism of British policy in Northern Ireland, and his call for a "tougher" response by the British army to Irish republican terrorism and stronger restrictions on the Irish community living in Britain, led to his assassination by the Provisional IRA in 1975.
Both were regulars on the BBC show Record Breakers. After his brother's death, McWhirter continued to appear on the show, eventually making him one of the most recognisable people on children's television in the 1970s and 1980s. Norris McWhirter was made a CBE in 1980.
He retired from the Guinness Book of Records in 1985 and from Record Breakers in 1994. Afterwards, he continued to write, editing a new reference book, his Book of Millennium Records, in 1999.
Norris McWhirter died from a heart attack on the 19th April, 2004. He was aged 78.
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