Farage with facts
November 29, 2017 12:58 PM   Subscribe

The unlikely life of Norris McWhirter, kids' TV star and the original Brexiter He was beloved by British kids in the 70s thanks to his Guinness Book of Records and role on TV’s Record Breakers – but Norris McWhirter was also a rightwing libertarian who inspired Thatcher and laid the foundations for Brexit.
posted by fearfulsymmetry (12 comments total) 7 users marked this as a favorite
 
Fascinating.
posted by Chrysostom at 1:05 PM on November 29, 2017


Ah, this explains that Stewart Lee joke.
posted by Panthalassa at 1:15 PM on November 29, 2017


In the mid-1970s, I got my first job at a radio station because I was willing to go along with a running joke about being the "caller left waiting on hold" on a talk show. One day I tuned in before I planned to make my daily call to keep up the joke and heard the show's host talking to a "representative of the Guinness Book" who was researching possibly including my "Longest Wait in Hold" in the book, with no clue it was faked. I immediately called the station and they put me on the air with the Guinness person who remained none the wiser. I never got into the book or onto Record Breakers, but as far as I could tell, they never figured out that my "world record wait on hold" was faked, just that my daily bits "off hold" made it a less "pure" record.

I never trusted that book since.
posted by oneswellfoop at 1:18 PM on November 29, 2017 [6 favorites]


BENJAMIN BUTTON TIME TRAVEL MILKSHAKE DUCK MOTHERFUCKIN FASCISTS THEY RUIN EVEYTHING
posted by lalochezia at 2:03 PM on November 29, 2017 [4 favorites]


He also funded (with South African backing) a private prosecution of Peter Hain, anti apartheid activist and later Labour MP. Altogether a swivel eyed loon of the early 70's mould
posted by RandomInconsistencies at 2:07 PM on November 29, 2017 [3 favorites]


I think it's a joke, Sir. Like Sillius Soddus or Biggus Dickus.
posted by flabdablet at 2:10 PM on November 29, 2017 [2 favorites]


Jeez, I used to read the original Guinness book (not the current abomination bearing that name) almost cover to cover, except for the sports, and I even made inroads into that section, impressive given my otherwise total lack of interest in the subject. I was double-dismayed to find out that his crony was Roger Atkinson, only to find out to my relief that his better-known brother is on the side of the angels politically.
posted by Halloween Jack at 2:15 PM on November 29, 2017 [3 favorites]


He also funded (with South African backing) a private prosecution of Peter Hain, anti apartheid activist and later Labour MP. Altogether a swivel eyed loon of the early 70's mould

Funny that 1970s and 1980s era right-wing "libertarians" often had no problem with South African apartheid.
posted by jonp72 at 2:31 PM on November 29, 2017 [8 favorites]


Ah, this explains that Stewart Lee joke.

Ha! I frequently employ this phrase, as a dumb American.
posted by latkes at 3:35 PM on November 29, 2017 [1 favorite]


I'm not sure that I'd go so far as to describe either McWhirter brother as "beloved", except possibly within the McWhirter family. 1970s family television was strange. After all, Jimmy Savile was a staple of Saturday night entertainment. Creepy old men were to be expected in children's television, but beloved? No.

(I'm not referring to Magnus Pyke or Johnny Ball or any of the other delightful eccentrics we were regaled with.)

The McWhirters, though. Nasty pieces of work, who just had a talent for useless bits of information.
posted by Grangousier at 4:06 PM on November 29, 2017 [2 favorites]


Funny that 1970s and 1980s era right-wing "libertarians" often had no problem with South African apartheid.

/True/ liberty lies in being able to own other people!

Yeah, this is something that I’ve noticed too. Someone I knew in college once went on a massive rant about Nelson Mandela out of nowhere & I was suddenly introduced to a whole worldview that I’d never seen before. I had no idea people with those kind of views existed previously. (Must have been the sheltered upbringing...)

And McWhirter was definitely in not in the 'beloved' box as far as I was concerned. More like: obviously weird & had been given a role on TV where his weirdness was indulged. He was a one note character.
posted by pharm at 12:53 AM on November 30, 2017


Derek and Clive - Ross McPharter
posted by flabdablet at 6:26 AM on November 30, 2017


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