Background
Born 12 February 1912 in Halifax, Yorkshire, the third child and second son of John and Margherita Whitley. Like his father, Oliver was a boarder in Wiseman"s House, Clifton College where he was resident between 1925 and 1930.
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Oliver Whitley
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Clifton College.
Career
He went on to read History and Law at New College, Oxford and qualified as a Barrister. Oliver joined the British Broadcasting Corporation in 1935 and, at the outbreak of World World War II moved to the Monitoring Service at Wood Norton monitoring Nazi broadcasts. He resigned in 1941 following a dispute over the proposal to move the unit to Caversham Park.
He enlisted with the RVNR, serving in Europe including the Dieppe raid and the Normandy landings and the Far East in the Malaya landings and liberation of Singapore.
On demobilisation in 1946, he rejoined and remained with the British Broadcasting Corporation until his retirement. He had a long and influential career, much of which was with the External Services
He died on 22 March 2005 in Benderloch, Argyll, at the age of 93.
