Geoffrey Whatmore obituary

My fellow news librarian, Geoffrey Whatmore, who has died aged 95, was one of the key figures in the world of media information during the second half of the 20th century. Appointed in the early 1950s as the Manchester Guardian’s first professional librarian, he later became BBC head of news information.

Son of Reginald and Gertrude Whatmore, Geoffrey was born in Birmingham, where his father worked for the General Electric Company. He trained as a librarian during the late 1930s, and after second world war service returned to his profession at Birmingham Central Library. However, feeling “restless after years away”, he changed tack by becoming a librarian at the Nottingham Journal.