Biography:John Richard Whiteley (often known as "Twice-Nightly Whiteley" as he often appeared on two shows in one night)was a British television presenter best known for presenting the long-running quiz show, Countdown.
Before Countdown, he was a journalist for Yorkshire Television. His claim to fame was that he had interviewed every British Prime Minister since Harold Macmillan. He was the first journalist to interview Margaret Thatcher following the IRA bombing of the Grand Hotel in Brighton in 1984.
Whiteley was also invested as an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in 2004, an honour of which he was extremely proud.
In May 2005 he was rushed to hospital suffering from pneumonia. Doctors found that he had an infection in one of his heart valves. After a successful operation to correct this, he suffered a heart attack and sadly did not regain conciousness.
He will be remembered for his "bumbling" nature, his odd taste inJohn Richard Whiteley (often known as "Twice-Nightly Whiteley" as he often appeared on two shows in one night)was a British television presenter best known for presenting the long-running quiz show, Countdown.
Before Countdown, he was a journalist for Yorkshire Television. His claim to fame was that he had interviewed every British Prime Minister since Harold Macmillan. He was the first journalist to interview Margaret Thatcher following the IRA bombing of the Grand Hotel in Brighton in 1984.
Whiteley was also invested as an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in 2004, an honour of which he was extremely proud.
In May 2005 he was rushed to hospital suffering from pneumonia. Doctors found that he had an infection in one of his heart valves. After a successful operation to correct this, he suffered a heart attack and sadly did not regain conciousness.
He will be remembered for his "bumbling" nature, his odd taste in clothing, but most of all for his brightening up of British evening television.…Expand
