Robin Harritt
2006-01-06 11:29:02 UTC
Taken from the Telegraph
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/core/Content/displayPrintable.jhtml;jsessionid=U1
4FK0YX4H5KRQFIQMFCFFOAVCBQYIV0?xml=/news/2006/01/03/db0301.xml
Phillip Whitehead, who has died aged 68, was an award-winning television
producer and a Labour politician who represented his party in both the House
of Commons and in Europe.
In his political life Whitehead had many interests, but he was particularly
proud of his role as one of the sponsors of the Children's Bill (1975),
which gave adopted children the right to trace their biological parents.
He described it as "one of the best day's work I ever did as an MP". This
was because it touched deeply on his own experience.
Phillip Whitehead was born on May 30 1937 in Derbyshire and was adopted by a
carpenter, Harold Whitehead, and his wife Frances.
His life changed when his father was in a car accident; Phillip was 10 at
the time, and in its report of the incident the local paper stated that his
father was 61 years old. The boy began to wonder why all his friends'
parents were 20 to 30 years younger.
Some years later, when he raised the matter of his birth certificate, his
mother burst into tears. When Phillip was 23, his father died, and he found
the certificate, which revealed that he had been born to a middle-class
teenage girl living just five miles away.
His adoptive parents had lived in fear that the girl's family would reclaim
him, and he later wrote of his childhood experience: "Adoption was always a
taboo word in our house. My parents were in permanent denial."
Whitehead did not pursue the matter until 1966, when he was standing for
Parliament in the West Derbyshire constituency. Then he deliberately
canvassed at the house where he had been born, thus meeting his true
grandparents. "I am sure they knew who I was, but nothing was said."
The next year, when he was 30, he finally met his real mother, who told him
that his father had been a 38-year-old officer on leave from Burma.
Phillip Whitehead was educated at Lady Manners' Grammar School, Bakewell,
and Exeter College, Oxford, where he read PPE and was president of both the
Union and the Conservative Association.
After National Service with the Royal West African Frontier Force, from 1961
to 1967 he worked at the BBC, becoming editor of Panorama; he was then
invited to edit Thames Television's This Week, remaining in this job until
1970 and winning the Guild of TV Producers' award for best factual
programme.
Meanwhile, Whitehead had switched his allegiance to Labour, and had
contested, unsuccessfully, West Derbyshire in the general election of 1966.
Four years later he was returned for Derby North, and held the seat until
1983.
He helped to introduce legislation on police complaints and family planning
as well as adoption. In his last two years he served as a front-bench
spokesman on education and the arts.
After losing his seat, Whitehead returned to television. He was a director
of Goldcrest Film and Television Holdings (1984-87); of Brook Productions
(1986-97); and of Brook Lapping Productions, from 1997 to 2003.
Among his notable productions were The World at War, for which he won an
Emmy in 1974; Nixon; The Windsors; The Nehru/Gandhi Dynasty; and The
Kennedys, for which he won another Emmy in 1993.
A fervent believer in the EU, Whitehead was elected to the European
Parliament for the East Midlands Region (later Staffordshire and East Derby)
in 1994. He was chairman of the European Parliamentary Labour Party from
1999 to 2004, and of the EU internal market and consumer protection
committee.
Whitehead was chairman of New Society (1986) and of Statesman and Nation
Publications (1985-90). He was a member of the Annan Committee on the Future
of Broadcasting (1974-77), and chairman of the Consumers' Association from
1990 to 1994.
Phillip Whitehead married, in 1967, Christine Usborne, who survives him with
their two sons and a daughter.
Information appearing on telegraph.co.uk is the copyright of Telegraph Group
Limited and must not be reproduced in any medium without licence. For the
full copyright statement see Copyright
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/core/Content/displayPrintable.jhtml;jsessionid=U1
4FK0YX4H5KRQFIQMFCFFOAVCBQYIV0?xml=/news/2006/01/03/db0301.xml
Phillip Whitehead, who has died aged 68, was an award-winning television
producer and a Labour politician who represented his party in both the House
of Commons and in Europe.
In his political life Whitehead had many interests, but he was particularly
proud of his role as one of the sponsors of the Children's Bill (1975),
which gave adopted children the right to trace their biological parents.
He described it as "one of the best day's work I ever did as an MP". This
was because it touched deeply on his own experience.
Phillip Whitehead was born on May 30 1937 in Derbyshire and was adopted by a
carpenter, Harold Whitehead, and his wife Frances.
His life changed when his father was in a car accident; Phillip was 10 at
the time, and in its report of the incident the local paper stated that his
father was 61 years old. The boy began to wonder why all his friends'
parents were 20 to 30 years younger.
Some years later, when he raised the matter of his birth certificate, his
mother burst into tears. When Phillip was 23, his father died, and he found
the certificate, which revealed that he had been born to a middle-class
teenage girl living just five miles away.
His adoptive parents had lived in fear that the girl's family would reclaim
him, and he later wrote of his childhood experience: "Adoption was always a
taboo word in our house. My parents were in permanent denial."
Whitehead did not pursue the matter until 1966, when he was standing for
Parliament in the West Derbyshire constituency. Then he deliberately
canvassed at the house where he had been born, thus meeting his true
grandparents. "I am sure they knew who I was, but nothing was said."
The next year, when he was 30, he finally met his real mother, who told him
that his father had been a 38-year-old officer on leave from Burma.
Phillip Whitehead was educated at Lady Manners' Grammar School, Bakewell,
and Exeter College, Oxford, where he read PPE and was president of both the
Union and the Conservative Association.
After National Service with the Royal West African Frontier Force, from 1961
to 1967 he worked at the BBC, becoming editor of Panorama; he was then
invited to edit Thames Television's This Week, remaining in this job until
1970 and winning the Guild of TV Producers' award for best factual
programme.
Meanwhile, Whitehead had switched his allegiance to Labour, and had
contested, unsuccessfully, West Derbyshire in the general election of 1966.
Four years later he was returned for Derby North, and held the seat until
1983.
He helped to introduce legislation on police complaints and family planning
as well as adoption. In his last two years he served as a front-bench
spokesman on education and the arts.
After losing his seat, Whitehead returned to television. He was a director
of Goldcrest Film and Television Holdings (1984-87); of Brook Productions
(1986-97); and of Brook Lapping Productions, from 1997 to 2003.
Among his notable productions were The World at War, for which he won an
Emmy in 1974; Nixon; The Windsors; The Nehru/Gandhi Dynasty; and The
Kennedys, for which he won another Emmy in 1993.
A fervent believer in the EU, Whitehead was elected to the European
Parliament for the East Midlands Region (later Staffordshire and East Derby)
in 1994. He was chairman of the European Parliamentary Labour Party from
1999 to 2004, and of the EU internal market and consumer protection
committee.
Whitehead was chairman of New Society (1986) and of Statesman and Nation
Publications (1985-90). He was a member of the Annan Committee on the Future
of Broadcasting (1974-77), and chairman of the Consumers' Association from
1990 to 1994.
Phillip Whitehead married, in 1967, Christine Usborne, who survives him with
their two sons and a daughter.
Information appearing on telegraph.co.uk is the copyright of Telegraph Group
Limited and must not be reproduced in any medium without licence. For the
full copyright statement see Copyright