Ross McWhirter

Alan Ross McWhirter (12 August 1925 – 27 November 1975), known as Ross McWhirter, was, with his twin brother, Norris, the co-founder of Guinness World Records and a contributor to The Record Breakers. He was murdered by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) in 1975.

Early life

McWhirter was the youngest son of William McWhirter, editor of the Sunday Pictorial, and Margaret "Bunty" Williamson. He was born at "Giffnock" (after Giffnock Church in Glasgow, where the McWhirters were married), 10 Branscombe Gardens, Winchmore Hill, London, N21. In 1929, as William was working on the founding of the Northcliffe Newspapers Group chain of provincial newspapers, the family moved to "Aberfoyle", in Broad Walk, Winchmore Hill. Like his two brothers, Ross McWhirter was educated at Marlborough College and Trinity College, Oxford. Between 1943 and 1946, Ross served with the Royal Navy on board a minesweeper in the Mediterranean.

Career

Ross and Norris both became sports journalists in 1950. In 1951, they published Get to Your Marks, and earlier that year they had founded an agency to provide facts and figures to Fleet Street, setting out, in Norris McWhirter's words "to supply facts and figures to newspapers, yearbooks, encyclopaedias and advertisers".