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Frederic (Dick) Douglas 
Walker
1907 - 1985


Frederic (Dick) Douglas 
Walker
, Government (BBC News Sction) working at Ministry of Information (1939). of The Orchards, Cookham Dean, Berkshire, England, B.B.C. Foreign Correspondent (incl. United Nations & Germany), etc. "The eldest, he rebelled early against his father's mid-victorian norms. In the Berlin of the 1920's and 30' he mixed among the large english-emigree hippie community - in late 20th century terms - friendly with Isherwood, Auden, writers of that time who would have encouraged him to pursue later the role of a journalist. Actually that happened by chance. It was only by pretending to be a friend who'd got at least as far as an interview - unemployment was high during the 1930's - that Dick got his kick-start in life. The BBC was then just in its infancy. Dick was hired to check out their announcers' pronunciation, the 'Kings English'. From there he progressed to becoming 'Our Man in Washington' then 'in Bonn', the BBC's Chief Foreign Correspondent, first at the Uinited Nations, then from Bonn. "A private man, he could never really enjoy that work done, as was his wont to say, 'waiting only for the day I retire'. He preferred quietly writing away many years in some attic upstairs, a 'major opus' his family presumed which ended up on some bus. He'd absentmindedly forgotten it, lost it. Indeed Cosmology -- as his generation named matters to do with the abstract which, for better or worse, to their way of thinking were just bigger than any man's comprehension - the spiritual nature of life it was that interested him more. With his family he would hesitate before sharing this personal, private life. A sceptic he wasn't only because he knew what it made you - depressed. 'Manic Depression' his doctors told him he suffered from. "My mother first got to know him in 1931 on her first visit to Germany to meet her future in-laws. Dick was courting his future spouse as my mother was hers. It was both 'being English' that would always hold them together. They both held each other in high regard, not least in not gladly suffering fools, especially nazi fools, bigots, pretenders, a capacity they claimed the English, the English tradition, viz. Falstaff, had made themselves masters of - hence jack-of-all-trades, masters of nothing. They revelled in a shared humour of the ridiculousness of pomposity, of claims made by others to know better, better than 'an Englishman', which certainly added great spice to the strong friendships that developed between them all. "Yet it took 9 more years before Dick would propose, Hertha had to wait before marrying him. My father, two years later married to my mother, was Hertha's only brother. My parents did much to encourage therefore this marriage, during these pre-war years while living in Berlin offering Hertha and Dick often clandestine sanctuary in their flat. It was certainly considered by them all that 'we were one family'. Undoubtedly the intimacy of close family relationships it was which Dick hungered for, his early life however may have offered him."(PvM)

Born: London, , , England 25th Jul 1907 Baptised:
Died: Cookham Dean, Berks., England 14th Dec 1985 Buried:
Family:
Walker

Ancestors
[ Patrilineage | Matrilineage | Earliest Ancestors | Force | Force2 | Set Relationship | Relationship | Options ]

1.
Frederic (Dick) Douglas 
Walker
(
Gemmingen von Massenbach
) 1907 - 1985
2.
 

Siblings



Spouses



1. Starnberg, , Bavaria, Germany Protestant Church 28th Sep 1937
Hertha Julie 
Gemmingen von Massenbach
(
Walker
) 1909 - 1984

Descendants
[ Options ]

a.
Hertha Julie 
Gemmingen von Massenbach
(
Walker
) 1909 - 1984
1.
Nicholas (Nick) Maximilian F.H. 
Walker
(
hidden
) 1941 - post 2006
1a.
1.1.
hidden
1.2.
hidden
1.3.
hidden
2.
hidden
2a. ?
2.1.
3.
Quintin (Quinnie) R.F. 
Walker
1948 - 2015
Sources

Census

Timeline


25th Jul 1907Born (birth) London, England
1911Boarder in 1911 census (census) Nuneaton, Warcs., England
1937Engaged to
Hertha Julie 
Gemmingen von Massenbach
(
Walker
) 1909 - 1984 (engagement)
28th Sep 1937Married
Hertha Julie 
Gemmingen von Massenbach
(
Walker
) 1909 - 1984 (marriage) Starnberg, Bavaria, Germany
c. 1985Made a will (will)
14th Dec 1985Died (death) Cookham Dean, Berks., England
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