TalkTV host James Whales huge tax-free sum to family | UK News

Radio legend James Whale left the majority of his £715,000 property to his spouse Nadine, whom he lovingly referred to as “Lady Whale Nadine”, after his death last month. The TalkTV host, who died aged 74 on August 4 following a long battle with cancer, ensured his children James and Peter from his first marriage would also receive a slice of his fortune. Court papers show he passed on £75,000 tax-free to them, with the remainder of his estate going to Nadine.

The estate, worth £715,000, was slashed to £517,200 after taxes, fees and debts, and was formally signed off by the High Court just 25 days after his death. Whale, who signed his will in April last year, also requested a burial.

The broadcasting icon’s fight with kidney cancer defined much of his later life. First diagnosed in 2000, he lost a kidney and went on to set up Kidney Cancer UK to support others. But in 2020, he revealed the disease had spread to his spine, brain and lungs.

Despite his devastating prognosis, Whale continued to work and even found love again, announcing his engagement to Nadine Lamont-Brown on his 70th birthday. The pair married soon after.

The night before his death, Whale told friends he was “happy to go now” after moving into a hospice.

Known for his no-nonsense style, The James Whale Radio Show was a cultural phenomenon of the late ’80s, while his career spanned six decades across radio and television.

Whale carried out his final interview with his “good pal and political hero,” Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, in his garden in mid-July. He continued to write his weekly column for the Daily Express, which on 27 July included a series of tributes from friends and former colleagues.

Dragon’s Den businessman Theo Paphitis hailed his charity work for Kidney Cancer UK, adding: “They broke the mould when they made James, and there’s a good cause that he has lasted a long time as a broadcaster on the airwaves.”

Actor Shane Richie said: “Love him or detest him, there’s been no denying that the Whale was and will always be regarded as a one-off, distinctive broadcaster. In the eighties, James moved the goalposts when it got here to live TV… his late-night Friday discuss show was the stuff of legend and is still regarded as a show that moved the parameters of British tv.”