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Six-figure sum for Whicker memoir

22.07.08 Graeme Neill

HarperCollins has paid a "significant" six-figure sum for world rights in an "autobiographical narrative" by veteran broadcaster Alan Whicker about his life and travels.

Journey of a Lifetime will be published in autumn 2009 to coincide with the televising of four one hour programmes on the BBC. World rights were bought by Jonathan Taylor, publishing director of Harper NonFiction, from Adrian Sington of DCD Media, the company that is making the television series.

Both the book and the television series will see Whicker embark on a memorable final trip around the world to revisit locations of significance from his life and career.

Taylor said that Whicker's life "amounts to nothing more and nothing less than the definitive populist history of the second half of the twentieth century". "This very personal account of a life in broadcasting will be written by Whicker in own indomitable style peppered with the great man's distinctive brand of subtle satire and self-deprecation," he said.

Whicker is best known for his Whicker's World series of reports from around the globe. His last book, an adaptation of his Channel 4 TV show Whicker's War, was also published by HarperCollins.

HarperCollins Rights deal Graeme Neill Alan Whicker

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