Publisher. He and his older twin brother, Norris, received international acclaim for compiling records and co-founding the “Guinness Book of Records”. His father, William McWhirter, was the editor of several newspapers. Dozens of copies of newspapers were commonly found piled in their home ready to read. He attended Marlborough College then after World War II Trinity College at Oxford. During the war, he served as a sub-lieutenant with Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve on board of a minesweeper in the Mediterranean. Being an all-round sportsman, he represented Scotland and Britain in running and his brother in sprinting. With the love for sports, he and his twin brother became sports journalist in 1950, which led to compiling sports records and the publishing of “Get To Your Marks.” As the business of “McWhirter Twins,” the twins began to professionally supply records of figures and facts to newspapers and other sources. In August of 1955, they published the first “The Guinness Book of Records,” a slim green book of 198 pages. The name of the book was taken from Guinness beer. To their surprise, the book became United Kingdom's number one non-fiction best-seller within four months. The book was updated regularly and published annually by the twins until 1975. He became a BBC sports commentator and kept time for the race when Sir Roger Bannister was the first to run the 4-minute mile race in 3 minutes 59.4 seconds and proudly announced that triumph to the world. Of the two twins, Ross was the most politically outspoken with his far right-wing in views. He was a candidate for a local elected office but did not win. For his political stance, Ross was murdered in the doorway of his home by two members of the Provisional IRA. He received fatal gun-shot wounds to his head and chest and was pronounced dead on arrival at the local hospital. This happened three weeks after launching financially a “Beat-the-Bomber” campaign against terrorists bombers in England. The two members of the Provisional IRA were captured, tried, and in 1977 sentenced to life in prison along with two other men for 10 murders and 20 bombings. In April 1999, under the terms of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement with Ireland, all were released.