Alan recently died in Thailand, in October, where in what turned out to be his last commercial venture, he was the proprietor of a motorcycle rental business, bar, and B&B.
When he left School, Alan joined Lloyds Shipping Register in the City, where he stayed until 1961 when he left and joined IBM. IBM at that time was a small “unknown” company from America that sold business machines, with an office in the Barbican; which at the time was a bomb site! Alan was the UK spares manager, with an office and a cupboard; that cupboard was IBM’s first UK spares warehouse. He spent some years with IBM in both the UK and the USA, before leaving to start his first commercial venture, and ultimately some 15 years ago exported himself to Thailand.
Alan married Rosemary in 1961, and subsequently married twice more, and was the father of 6 children, all of whom remember him fondly.
Like many of us Alan was a motorcycle enthusiast, and he never lost his youthful enthusiasm for them, despite the inevitable incidents.
He was quite unique and remains in my memory a brightly coloured character in a grey world.
Alan Whitten (Tyson’s 1960)