David Whittaker was born and bred in Drogheda, Ireland, near the mouth of the River Boyne. He is a bibliophile and has spent all of his adult life in the booktrade (both new and used).
He has lived in Charlbury, Oxfordshire for twenty-three years with his wife and daughter.

David has held exhibitions of his photographs at Newington House Gallery (Charlbury), Oxford University Press, Waterstones Bookshop (Oxford), Woodstock Arts, Bicester Leisure Centre, Tolcarne Inn (Newlyn, Cornwall) and the Jam Factory, Oxford.
His photos have also appeared in the Oxford Times, the Times Literary Supplement and the National Post (Canada).

He has given talks and readings at the Penzance Arts Club, St Ives Arts Club, St Ives Festival, the Royal Society of Arts, London School of Economics, Woodstock Celebrates Books and Liverpool John Moores University.

He has contributed to the Oxford Times, the Guardian (including obituaries of the painters Colin Scott, Tony O'Malley, Nancy Wynne-Jones and the sculptor Conor Fallon), Kybernetes - a journal of holistic ideas - and Bonhams catalogue of Cornish art.

David has been heard on Radio Oxford, responding to the listeners' queries about the meaning of place-names.
He has also appeared in conversation with Brian Eno on a BBC TV Arena documentary.