Journey of a Lifetime (BBC)

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[edit] General Information

Travel Documentary hosted by Alan Whicker and published by BBC in 2009 - English narration

[edit] Cover

[edit] Information

Celebrating a remarkable fifty years on television, TV legend and undisputed travel king Alan Whicker sets off round the world on a journey reflecting his incredibly varied life and career.

[edit] Europe

In this first episode, Whicker revisits Venice, a city of massive significance and very close to his heart, to retrace his steps from war to peace, from soldier to Fleet Street journalist, and then his subsequent move into the fledgling world of television. Included in the films revisited in this episode are Whicker's earliest surviving TV appearance, in-depth profiles of John Paul Getty and Baroness Fiona Thyssen, and a legendary encounter with millionaire Yorkshireman and eccentric Percy Shaw - the man who invented cats' eyes. Finally, the remarkable story of what happened when Whicker became the first man to enter a closed and silent order of nuns - and got them to talk to him.

[edit] California Dreaming

Whicker looks back at some of his most famous programmes, including the 1967 film that introduced 'hippies' to a bemused Britain and featured controversial sequences of drug-taking for the first time on British TV. He also revisits the openly gay church who invited him to one of their same-sex marriages thirty-five years before they became legally recognised, as well as the San Francisco cops who invited him to join them on patrol back in 1979. Also featured in this episode is the last ever interview with the late Peter Sellers.

[edit] The Americas

Alan travels from West to East across America to track down his all-time favourite couple, a prolific Hollywood plastic surgeon and his wife, who also happens to be his favourite patient. When originally shown, they generated the biggest ever postbag of Whicker's career, but after thirty years will they still be together - and what will all the surgery have done to them? Also in this episode, Whicker explores once more the closed community of the ultra-wealthy ladies of Palm Beach. He revisits the groundbreaking 1960s programme where he filmed the trial of modern-day Bonnie and Clyde, who were both facing the death penalty, and looks back at startling footage of America's first so-called serial killer seconds after his arrest. Whicker also re-examines his extraordinary interview with Haitian dictator Papa Doc, his most critically acclaimed film for which he won the prestigious Dumont Award.

[edit] Hong Kong and Beyond

Alan completes the final leg of his journey by returning to Hong Kong, the hub of all his many Far Eastern adventures, five decades after his first trip. He looks at the drastically changing face of Hong Kong and the endless struggle that beautiful Bali has had to preserve its unique charms - especially after the 2002 and 2005 bombings. Plus, he meets the Brits who emigrated after watching one of his shows; visits the island full of 'Millionaire Natives' who made, spent and ultimately lost their fortunes; and interviews the British couple who escaped the rat race to live the Robinson Crusoe lifestyle in a remote tropical paradise.