Норрис МакУиртер: Создатель Книги рекордов Гиннесса и политический активист

English writer

Norris Dewar McWhirter (12 August 192519 April 2004) was a British writer, political activist, co founder of The Freedom Association, and a television presenter. He and his twin brother Ross were known internationally for founding the reference book The Guinness Book of Records (known since 2000 as Guinness World Records) which they wrote and annually updated together between 1955 and 1975. After Ross's assassination by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA), Norris carried on alone as editor.

Norris and Ross were the twin sons of William McWhirter, the editor of the Sunday Pictorial, and Margaret Williamson. In 1929, as William was working on the founding of the Northcliffe Newspapers chain of provincial newspapers, the family moved to Broad Walk, Winchmore Hill. Like their elder brother, Kennedy (born 1923), Norris and Ross were educated at Marlborough College and Trinity College, Oxford. Norris chose to complete his law degree in two years rather than the usual three. Between 1943 and 1946, Norris served as a sub lieutenant with the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve on escort duty in Atlantic and on board a minesweeper in the Pacific.

McWhirter was an excellent athlete. He recorded a time of 10.7s for the 100 metres whilst a student and later represented Scotland. His brother, Ross, was a critic of British government policy in Northern Ireland, and called for a "tougher" response by the Army against Irish republicans. Ross was shot dead by the Provisional IRA in 1975 at his home in Middlesex after offering a reward for information leading to the apprehension of those carrying out a bombing campaign in London at the time. Following Ross's murder, Norris co founded the right wing political organisation the National Association for Freedom (now The Freedom Association) in 1975. This organisation initiated legal challenges against the trade union movement in the UK, Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) and the European Economic Community (EEC) in Brussels. The organisation states that the work it undertakes falls within the following Eight Principles of a Free Society: Individual Freedom, Personal & Family Responsibility, The Rule of Law, Limited Government, Free Market Economy, National Parliamentary Democracy, Strong National Defences and a Free Press and Other Media. It continues its political activities to this day. Norris was on the committee of the Free Czechoslovakia Campaign, founded by exiled Czech journalist Josef Josten in 1968 in response to the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia. Josten was referred to obliquely in the last two pages of his book Ross (see Bibliography below). Norris was also a member of the Secretariat of the anti communist European Freedom Campaign, established in London at an Inaugural Rally at Westminster Central Hall on 10 December 1988.

Both brothers were regulars on the BBC show Record Breakers. They were noted for their exceptional memory, enabling them to provide detailed answers to any questions from the audience about entries in the Guinness Book of Records. After Ross's death, Norris continued to appear on the show, eventually making him one of the most recognisable people on children's television in the 1970s and 1980s. McWhirter was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 1980 New Year Honours.

In 1957, McWhirter married Carole Eckert, who died in 1987; they had a son and a daughter. In 1990, he married his secretary, Tessa von Weichardt. He retired from The Guinness Book of Records in 1985, though he continued in an advisory role until 1996. He continued to write, editing a new reference book, Norris McWhirter's Book of Millennium Records, in 1999. In 1985, he launched an unsuccessful defamation case against the Independent Broadcasting Authority for the TV programme Spitting Image, which had inserted a subliminal image of McWhirter's face imposed on the body of a naked woman. and Sir Roger Bannister (who read an appreciation) – was held in St Martin in the Fields, Trafalgar Square, London, on 7 October 2004. He was interred at St Peter's Church, Kington Langley.