Ross McWhirter
| Ross McWhirter | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Alan Ross McWhirter 12 August 1925 Winchmore Hill, London, England |
| Died | 27 November 1975 (aged 50) Enfield, London, England |
| Education |
Marlborough College Trinity College, Oxford |
| Occupation | Writer, political activist, television presenter |
| Notable credit(s) | Guinness World Records, The Record Breakers |
| Spouse(s) | Rosemary McWhirter |
| Relatives | Norris McWhirter |
| Family | William McWhirter, father; Margaret Williamson, mother |
Alan Ross McWhirter (12 August 1925 – 27 November 1975) was, with his twin brother, Norris, the co-founder of Guinness World Records and a contributor to The Record Breakers. He was murdered by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) in 1975.
McWhirter was the youngest son of William McWhirter, editor of the Sunday Pictorial, and Margaret "Bunty" Williamson. He was born at "Giffnock" (after Giffnock Church in Glasgow, where the McWhirters were married), 10 Branscombe Gardens, Winchmore Hill, London, N21. In 1929, as William was working on the founding of the Northcliffe Newspapers Group chain of provincial newspapers, the family moved to "Aberfoyle", in Broad Walk, Winchmore Hill. Like his two brothers, Ross McWhirter was educated at Marlborough College and Trinity College, Oxford. Between 1943 and 1946, Ross served as a sub-lieutenant with the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve on board a minesweeper in the Mediterranean.
Ross and Norris both became sports journalists in 1950. In 1951, they published Get to Your Marks, and earlier that year they had founded an agency to provide facts and figures to Fleet Street, setting out, in Norris McWhirter's words "to supply facts and figures to newspapers, yearbooks, encyclopaedias and advertisers".
While building up their accounts, they both worked as sports journalists. One of the athletes they knew and covered was runner Christopher Chataway, an employee at Guinness who recommended them to Hugh Beaver. After an interview in 1954 in which the Guinness directors enjoyed testing the twins' knowledge of records and unusual facts, the brothers agreed to start work on the book that would become The Guinness Book of Records. In August 1955, the first slim green volume – 198 pages long – was at the bookstalls, and in four more months it was the UK's number one non-fiction best-seller. Both brothers were regulars on the BBC show The Record Breakers. They were noted for their encyclopedic memories, enabling them to provide detailed answers to questions from the audience about entries in The Guinness Book of Records. Norris continued on the programme after Ross's death.
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