Born in the Bootham area of York, England, Whiting was the son of a fitter. He studied at the Nunthorpe Grammar School and left in 1943, at age 16, to join the British Army by lying about his age. Keen to be in on the wartime action, Whiting was attached to the 52nd Armoured Reconnaissance Regiment, and by age 18 saw duty in France, Holland, Belgium, and Germany in the latter stages of World War II, rising to the rank of sergeant. While still a soldier, he observed conflicts between the highest-ranking British and American generals which he would write about extensively in later years.
