StarZero All shows Try the podcast clipper →

Maureen Wheeler

Co-founder, Planet Wheeler Foundation · 2 appearances on the record.

computed by AI from the episodes · how this works → · full disclaimer →

founderauthorothertonywheeler.com.au ↗Wikipedia ↗

Alongside her husband Tony, Maureen Wheeler co-founded the travel publisher Lonely Planet, scaling it into a global media brand before selling to BBC Worldwide. She later focused on philanthropy through the Planet Wheeler Foundation and supported Melbourne's literary arts via The Wheeler Centre.

9statements → 6claims → 2claims resolved → 3.89/5average certainty → 1/5average debate potential → 4said about them ↓

2 supported 0 partly supported 0 contradicted 4 not checkable as stated how the 6 claims stand · each chip opens the sources

6 assertions · 2 disclosures · 1 what if · every statement was checked. The predictions and assertions are the 6 claims: statements the public record can support or contradict. 2 are resolved, and 4 name no date, number or outcome precise enough to check. Everything else (opinions, insights, what ifs, disclosures) can never be settled by the record, so it carries no assessment.

The record, in short

What the tape says about how Maureen argues and how the claims held up. Everything they said, and everything said about them, is in the tabs below.

Their most notable supported claim

Assertion Supported
Lonely Planet founders left London for Asia with only 400 pounds
“See, we had so little money. We left London with 400 pounds, so that was our money.”
Maureen Wheeler Jul 9, 2018 ▶ 5:50 Lonely Planet: Maureen & Tony Wheeler (2017)

How they sound: not measured why? →

We measure speaking style by listening to the audio itself, and a fair number needs at least 2,000 words from one person on tape we have measured. There is too little of Maureen Wheeler on measured tape to publish a rate. This says nothing about how they speak.

Everything Maureen Wheeler said on How I Built This that made the record, most notable first. Filter by type, assessment or year in the ledger →

Assertion Not checkable as stated
Maureen Wheeler: Digital investments and 9/11 halted Lonely Planet's profitability
“We had television going, we had started investing heavily into the digital side of things, a lot of staff, a lot of, you know, we created a whole lot of desktop publishing before it was even a term. And it was eating away all of the money. The books were still…”
Maureen Wheeler Jul 9, 2018 ▶ 24:51 Lonely Planet: Maureen & Tony Wheeler (2017)
What-if
Lonely Planet needed Tony to exist, but Maureen to hold it together
“Lonely Planet could never have existed without Tony, but it probably wouldn't have held together as long without me.”
Maureen Wheeler Jul 9, 2018 ▶ 31:46 Lonely Planet: Maureen & Tony Wheeler (2017)
Assertion Not checkable as stated
The Wheelers began their 1972 Asia trip with just 400 pounds
“We left London with 400 pounds, so that was our money.”
Maureen Wheeler May 8, 2017 ▶ 7:58 Lonely Planet: Maureen & Tony Wheeler
Assertion Supported
Lonely Planet founders left London for Asia with only 400 pounds
“See, we had so little money. We left London with 400 pounds, so that was our money.”
Maureen Wheeler Jul 9, 2018 ▶ 5:50 Lonely Planet: Maureen & Tony Wheeler (2017)
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Maureen Wheeler: Founders arrived in Sydney with only 27 cents
“He put his hand in his pocket and he said, we've got 27 cents”
Maureen Wheeler Jul 9, 2018 ▶ 9:31 Lonely Planet: Maureen & Tony Wheeler (2017)
Assertion Not checkable as stated
The Wheelers arrived in Sydney with just 27 cents
“He put his hand in his pocket, he came out, and he said, we've got 27 cents”
Maureen Wheeler May 8, 2017 ▶ 11:38 Lonely Planet: Maureen & Tony Wheeler
Disclosure
Lonely Planet's first self-published book barely covered printing costs
“It was more or less covering the cost of the printing.”
Maureen Wheeler May 8, 2017 ▶ 18:05 Lonely Planet: Maureen & Tony Wheeler
Assertion Supported
Lonely Planet faced near-collapse and severe cutbacks after 9/11
“We did have to let people go. We did have to cut back on our offices overseas. We did have to cut back the number of books we did, and it was looking, I honestly did believe that it was possible the whole thing could just disappear.”
Maureen Wheeler May 8, 2017 ▶ 27:32 Lonely Planet: Maureen & Tony Wheeler
Disclosure
Staff pitched Maureen first because Tony had a five-second attention span
“At Lonely Planet, people always knew first of all, you come and talk to me about an idea, and I'll tell you where it's worth. Tony has what's, what's called the five second, you've got a 5:02 window to engage his attention.”
Maureen Wheeler May 8, 2017 ▶ 31:11 Lonely Planet: Maureen & Tony Wheeler

The other half of the tape: Maureen Wheeler's own voice is left out of every number here. 4 statements on the record name them. every mention, with the transcript →

Statements about Maureen Wheeler, by other people (4)

Disclosure
Tony Wheeler: Neither child wanted to take over Lonely Planet
“It wasn't going to be a dynasty. We weren't going to hand it on to our kids. Our kids had both worked in the company at one stage, but Neither of them were going to take it over from us.”
Tony Wheeler Jul 9, 2018 ▶ 26:21 Lonely Planet: Maureen & Tony Wheeler (2017)
Disclosure
Lonely Planet survived its first year entirely on Maureen Wheeler's salary
“But the first year, though, of Lonely Planet in, in Melbourne, you had a full-time job, and, you know, we were living on your, Maureen's salary while I worked on the books.”
Tony Wheeler May 8, 2017 ▶ 21:38 Lonely Planet: Maureen & Tony Wheeler
Assertion Supported
Lonely Planet was named after misheard Joe Cocker lyrics
“One of the songs in that, that That movie and that, that album is Joe Cocker singing a song called Space Captain, and the first line of the song goes, once while traveling across the sky, this lonely planet caught my eye. And I said to Maureen, I was humming t…”
Tony Wheeler May 8, 2017 ▶ 17:09 Lonely Planet: Maureen & Tony Wheeler
Disclosure
The Wheelers sold Lonely Planet because their children declined to inherit it
“It wasn't going to be a dynasty. We weren't going to hand it on to our kids. Our kids had both worked in the company at one stage, but Neither of them were going to take it over from us.”
Tony Wheeler May 8, 2017 ▶ 28:20 Lonely Planet: Maureen & Tony Wheeler

Appearances (2)

EpisodeDateSpeaking time
Lonely Planet: Maureen & Tony Wheeler (2017) Jul 9, 2018 12m
Lonely Planet: Maureen & Tony Wheeler May 8, 2017 12m
Made with StarZero

Turn any episode into a week of clips.

This entire site, over 800 episodes transcribed, diarized, checked and made playable, runs on the StarZero media pipeline. Drop in your own episode and the podcast clipper finds the moments worth sharing, cuts them, captions them, and reframes them for every feed.

Try the podcast clipper Learn more