Broadcaster Alan Whicker dies aged 87 Floods of people have paid tribute to him as a "broadcasting genius." He had been with partner Valerie Kleeman for more than 40 years. She said: "He had a wonderful life and I was lucky to have shared it with him. A few years ago a poll asked who was the most envied man in the country - and Alan won by a country mile! He said that he didn't know where work ended and private life began. Quoting Noel Coward, he would say 'work is more fun than fun'. On this last journey he will arrive curious, fascinated, and ready for a new adventure. Michael Palin was one of the first to pay tribute, describing him as "a great character, a great traveller and an excellent reporter." Whicker's World, which he presented for a little over three decades, famously brought a glimpse of the exotic jetset lifestyles of the rich and famous into UK homes. In 2009, he returned to some of the locations and people who featured over the years for a BBC series, Alan Whicker's Journey Of A Lifetime. Egypt-born Whicker had also been a war correspondent and, during his own service in the Second Word War, he was among the first group of Allied forces to enter Milan and he filmed footage of the body of Mussolini. David Green, director and producer at September Films, who worked with him as a young man remembered him as "a true original." He told the BBC: "He was a television giant... a brilliant popular journalist and observer of the human state, who achieved legendary status among his peers and was loved by the great British public." Presenter and writer Stephen Fry called Whicker's death "sad news," and actor Martin Kemp added his voice to tributes calling him "inspirational" and "the man who introduced me to the world."