Alan Whicker — educator

Press, 23 August 1979, Page 3

Alan Whicker — educator

In spite of his impressive record of globetrotting, there is one country that has constantly rejected Mr Whicker’s attempts to visit: Russia. He has reached an impasse, he says. ! Tve tried six times to do a programme in Russia. But the Russian Government insists on using their own camera crews,” he says. “The leader of the union in England, himself a Communist, won’t let us make a programme overseas without using a British camera crew. So I’m stuck.”

Mr Whicker says he is not interested in ; “hot” news, nor politics.

“My kind of programmes are more lasting. News is so perishable. . If we went to Teheran, now, it would all be out of date by the time it

was screened. Maybe in five years time I’ll go.” Alan Whicker is always on the look-out for fresh subjects for his documentaries. He rarely stops working but, luckily for him, he enjoys every minute of it. He describes himself as a workaholic.

“I’m often asked what I do to relax. But I’m lucky. I never know when . I’m working and when I’m not. With all the drama and excitement of my work, I don’t need to sink back into a hobby like knitting or stamp collecting,” he says. “I suppose I do relax sometimes, reading, travelling, and lying beside the swimming pool. I get sluggish when I relax.”

When he retires, he says, he will go fishing at Queenstown or Te Anau. He is very fond of New Zealand and, especially, the South Island. It fits in with his passion for islands. Next to Jersey, the South Island

is his favourite. “It knocks me out,” he says. “The scenery here just leaves all other scenery for dead.” He could not have picked a better day to visit his sec-ond-most favourite island. As he stepped off the plane at Christchurch Airport, he enthusiastically breathed in what he considers fresh, clear, sparkling air, and scanned the snowy Alps on the horizon. Mr Whicker was in Christchurch yesterday as part of a month-long promotional tour of New Zealand. He is making newspaper and television commercials for Air New Zealand.

He thinks Air New Zealand is the best airline in the world and is now prepared to say so after signing a contract, banking a cheque and accepting an offer from the airline that was too good to refuse. “I like the deal,” he says. The contract lasts for two

years, and the advertisements will be shown worldwide. Yes, he says, he has flpwn economy class, several times, on Air New Zealand. He values the quiet and the greenness of New Zealand. "1 think it’s the. last stronghold of gentleness in the'world.

“You may think you have your fair share. Of problems, with gang violence, drugs, unemployment and so on. But you really don’t know how lucky you are. “I haven’t been here for six years,” he says. “But I hope to be back soon.” While he is in New Zealand, Alan Whicker intends to look for possible documentary subjects. He is l meeting the Prime Minister (Mr Muldoon) today in Web lington. He says the strikebound *Mangere Bridge would make a good subject for a film, also the Cook Islands. «• ■