Personal Life
Whiteley was born in Bradford and spent his childhood in Baildon: his family owned a long-established textile mill, Thomas Whiteley and Co of Eccleshill, which went out of business in the 1960s. At 13, he won a scholarship to Giggleswick School, Yorkshire, where his English teacher was Russell Harty. He later became a governor of the school. Leaving school with seven O-levels and three A-levels, in 1962 he read English at Christ's College, Cambridge, where he gained a third class degree, coincidentally the same class of degree as his Countdown co-star Carol Vorderman was to attain at the same university nearly twenty years later.
In May 2005, Whiteley was taken into hospital with pneumonia. He made a slow recovery from the illness, but doctors discovered problems with his heart and carried out an emergency operation for endocarditis on 24 June. This operation was not successful, and two days later Whiteley died at Leeds General Infirmary.
He had suffered from asthma since he was very young, and was a diabetic. The edition of Countdown due to be broadcast on 27 June was postponed as a mark of respect. Carol Vorderman gave an emotional tribute to him on 28 June when Countdown returned the following day. A number of shows had already been recorded when he went into hospital and his final show was broadcast on 1 July 2005 which was the grand final of the 53rd series. Two standalone episodes featuring former contestants, and recorded in 2003 to be broadcast whenever Channel 4's cricket coverage finishes early, also remained in the vaults to be screened at a later date. As Channel 4 no longer covers cricket they may remain in the archives indefinitely, however one game's details has been leaked onto the internet.
Whiteley had a son, James, born in 1987 from a relationship with fashion journalist and television presenter Lesley Ebbetts.
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