You’ve heard by now that the founders of the Lonely Planet recently sold the majority share of their company to BBC Worldwide. But what’s next for Tony and Maureen Wheeler? What else — travel. And with £45million in their bank account from the BBC, they don’t need to go anywhere On a Shoestring anymore — they can afford the best of the best.
The Wheelers recently spoke to the Daily Mail about their past, present and future as Lonely Planet founders. The past is what I find most interesting — the iconic guidebook started out as merely a 94-page guide called Across Asia on the Cheap, and it was held together by staples. Later, when they started their company, they named it after a line in a Joe Cocker song — except they got it wrong. The line actually reads ‘lovely planet’, not ‘lonely planet.’
Tony and Maureen won’t quit writing just yet. And their kids continue to work at Lonely Planet so the Wheeler’s presence will have an impact on the guidebook for a long time to come, I suspect. For more about the stories behind the Lonely Planet, click here.