Harry Whitlohn

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Sir Harry Whitlohn was a spoof character who appeared as a "castaway" on the BBC Radio programme Desert Island Discs and was interviewed as though he were real, by the presenter Roy Plomley, on 1 April 1963 - April Fools' Day.{{cite web |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/features/desert-island-discs/castaway/ce6aa0af#p009y5h4 |title=Desert Island Discs - Castaway : Sir Harry Whitlohn |work=BBC Online |publisher=BBC |accessdate=27 July 2014}}{{cite news|url=http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/5cfeb464-283b-11db-a2c1-0000779e2340.html|title=Island nation|last=Blau|first=Rosie|work=Financial Times|accessdate=28 July 2014}}

Whitlohn was variously presented as a "man of affairs, musician, mountaineer, and mystic", an "88-year-old mountaineer, mystic and spy" and "the only man living who had collaborated with Brahms".{{cite journal|date=28 March 1963|title=BBC Home Service Basic, 1 April 1963 13.10|journal=Radio Times|publisher=BBC|volume=158|issue=2035|url=http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/19f7900f6624488c96013cb1878e1c0c}}

In reviewing the book "Desert Island Discs: 70 Years of Castaways" by Sean Magee for The Guardian in 2012, Stephen Moss wrote:{{cite news |last1=Moss |first1=Stephen |title=Desert Island Discs: 70 Years of Castaways by Sean Magee – review |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/sep/13/desert-island-discs-sean-magee-review |accessdate=12 November 2020 |work=the Guardian |date=13 September 2012 }}

{{Blockquote|Plomley's strong suit was his sense of the absurd, and his encounter with theatrical manager Sir Harry Whitlohn is especially memorable.}}

The role of Whitlohn was played by the actor Henry Sherek, himself a former castaway on the programme.{{cite book |last1=Magee |first1=Sean |title=Desert Island Discs: 70 Years of Castaways |date=13 September 2012 |publisher=Random House |isbn=978-1-4481-2745-0 |page=96 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PlhYMUezVYEC&pg=PA95 }} The character was originally to be called "Harry Whitlow".