TV presenter McWhirter shot dead by IRA and F1 star Hill dies in plane crash
This week in 1975, Guinness Book of Records co-founder Ross McWhirter was shot dead by two members of the Provisional IRA outside his North London home. After he was hit at close range in the head and chest, McWhirter was taken to a local hospital – but died soon after being admitted.
The author and BBC Record Breakers presenter had recently offered a reward of £50,000 for information leading to the arrest of IRA bombers.
The two gunmen waited in the garden of McWhirter’s Enfield house for around an hour while he was inside preparing to go out to enjoy a night at the theatre.
When his wife, Rosemary, arrived home, she got out of car and was approached by two gunmen.
She ran into the house as her husband came to the front door and seconds later heard two shots.
The killers then used her car to escape. Police later found the car abandoned a few miles away in Tottenham.
Guinness Director David Hoy said the outspoken critic of the IRA was well aware his life could be in danger.
“He took normal precautions recommended by the police and always looked under his Mercedes – he also varied his routes home,” he said.
Also this week in 1975, Graham Hill, one of Britain’s greatest motor racing drivers, was killed in a plane crash in south-east England.
Hill, 46, who had retired from the sport a few months earlier, was killed instantly along with the four other occupants in his Piper Aztec – all members of the Embassy Hill team.
Hill was flying the plane when he clipped a row of trees on Arkley golf course in Hertfordshire.
Three thousand people attended the two-times world champion’s funeral in St Alban’s, Hertfordshire, on 5 December 1975.
Hill’s son, Damon, followed his father into Formula One racing and went on to win the world championship in 1996.