Wilfred Whitten was a British writer and editor. His pseudonym was John O'London, from where the influential John O'London's Weekly

John O'London's Weekly

John O'London's Weekly was a weekly literary magazine that was published by George Newnes of London between 1919 and 1954. Regarded as the leading literary magazine in the British Empire, at its height it had a circulation of 80,000, and it was popular among young and older readers alike.Founded in...

obtained its name.

Whitten was assistant editor of The Academy from 1896 to 1902. He served as acting editor of T. P.'s Weekly (founded by T. P. O'Connor

T. P. O'Connor

Thomas Power O'Connor , known as T. P. O'Connor and occasionally as Tay Pay, was a journalist, an Irish nationalist political figure, and a Member of Parliament in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland for nearly fifty years.-Biography:O'Connor was born in...

) from its founding in 1902 until 1911, sharing responsibilities with J. A. T. Lloyd. He worked for the Daily Mail

Daily Mail

The Daily Mail is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust. First published in 1896 by Lord Northcliffe, it is the United Kingdom's second biggest-selling daily newspaper after The Sun. Its sister paper The Mail on Sunday was launched in 1982...

from 1916 to 1919, when he founded John O'London's Weekly, for which he worked until 1936. Sidney Dark, who joined John O'London's Weekly, considered Whitten to be "one of the most attractive men of letters that I have ever known". He was also a good talker and a master of accuracy.

Select bibliography

• The World's Library of Best Books
• Good and Bad English (1950)
• London Stories (1926)
• Daniel Defoe (1900)
• Treasure trove: being good things lost and found
• Unposted Letters Concerning Life & Literature
• Nollekens and His Times
• London in poetry and poets in London (1906)
• Quaker Pictures
• A Londoner's London (1912)
• The City Man's City (1911)
• Unfamiliar Fleet Street (1912)