DETERMINING WHO IS WHO

Press, Volume CXIII, Issue 33235, 26 May 1973, Page 12

DETERMINING WHO IS WHO

(By

JUDSON BENNETT)

A few weeks ago, the first of a batch of several hundred long blue envelopes, embossed with a dark blue seal, dropped through the letter-boxes of several of the world’s dignitaries and celebrities.

It was a sure sign that they’ve joined the world’s top people. By a process which has remained secret and mysterious for the past 125 years, they had been chosen to join the 30,000 household names in next year’s edition of “Who's Who."

Never before have so many people yearned to find their names in this 51b red and gold tome, and this year as usual hundreds will be disappointed. For just why some people are selected to receive the “Who’s Who” form asking for details of their lives, while others just as celebrated and successful are not remains one of the publishing world’s most classic mysteries. Flattery, bribes, threats and influence have all been tried and all have failed. Even the people who pick the candidates never have their identities revealed. “No comment'’ You won’t even find the book listed in the telephone directory. Ring the publishers Adam and Charles Black, at their elegant offices in London’s Soho Square, and a spokeman will tell you: “We do not discuss how people are selected for ‘Who’s Who.’ It is a job done mainly

by the directors. No, 1 am afraid the directors can’t be interviewed on the matter. No, I am afraid I can’t say who the editor of 'Who’s Who’ is.”

Certainly just being famous is no passport to the “Who’s Who” pages—as heart-trans-plant surgeon, Christiaan Barnard, former boxing champion Henry Cooper, and the Beatles have found. Few sportsmen rate a mention. Footballer, Bobby Charlton, and golfer, Tony Jacklin, are among the lucky ones, but they usually rate only a few lines compared with the column and a quarter devoted to Richard St Barbe Baker, founder of an organisation called Men of the Trees. Comedians, too, seem out of favour. "Spike” Milligan, referred to as “Terence Alan Milligan, educated in Poona and Rangoon,” is one of the handful of privileged ones. “Expelled from Oxford” Few film stars get inside the impressive red covers, either, although established figures like Frank Sinatra and Sophia Loren have been in "Who’s Who” for years. So have stars like Dame Anne Neagle, Sir John Gielgud and of course Lord Olivier, who rates one and a half columns. The TV' personality David Frost gets half a column. That’s about the same as former British Prime Ministers, Harold Wilson and Harold Macmillan and the present Prime Minister, Edward Heath. Once you’ve been chosen, you can say pretty well what you like in your entry. The

British Communist, Palme Dutt, wrote: “Expelled from Oxford for propogation of Marxism,” and the late Brendan Behan proudly listed among his accomplishments: “Member of the I.R.A. from 1937. sentenced to three years’ Borstal, Liverpool, 1939” Tlie right job Union leader Clive Jenkins lists “bargaining with employers” among his recreations, poet John Pudney says he "enjoys bonfires,” and playwright Harold Pinter names drinking as his hobby. Some of the smallest entries concern celebrities who prefer to keep their private lives to themselves. The millionaire Charles Clore, for example, gives few details except “educated London,” and a list of his directorships. The hotal magnate Maxwell Joseph is even less forthcoming. There is not even a date of birth in his entry’ although it does mention that his hobby is stamp collecting. Is there any way of gauranteeing that a blue enevelope will drop through your door? Having the right job is about the only near-sure way of getting a mention. Final arbiters Those who have made it their business to follow the “Who’s Who” trends over the years say that the current anonymous compilers have a weakness for eminent scientists, captains of industry, educationalists and the civil service. And if you are a judge, Q.C., a general, a public school headmaster, or a bishop you can be certain of

a place. So can peers, baronets, knights Members of Parliament and holders of the Victoria Cross. Every year, the publishers get hundreds of unsolicited biographies for inclusion in the forthcoming volume. Every one is sent back. “We are the final arbiters of who gets in and who doesn’t,” the spokesman explained. “Outside pressure has absolutely no effect on our selections.” Once someone has been honoured by a "Who’s Who” application, an entry will usually go in wether the subject co-operates or not. A classic case of what can happen concerns W. S. Gilbert, of the Gilbert and Sullivan partnership, who refused to disclose any details of his private life. Recriminations But when "Who’s Who” sent him a proof of their office-compiled entry which described him as "a journalist who writes the words for Sullivan’s operas," Gilbert quickly produced a detailed biography. Over the next few months, the anonymous compilers will start work, evaluating every new' celebrity’s worth in terms of column inches, and not surprisingly there will be recriminations for weeks after the publishing date. Even Hitler regularly brought a copy of "Who’s Who.” One year he wrote a furious letter to the proprietors complaining that, while Stalin’s entry had been increased from six to 44 lines, his own remained the same. Now they both occupy the same amount of space — about a column — in “Who Was Who.”