Colin Willock
A pioneer of Anglia Television's flagship wildlife documentary series Survival, Colin Willock was born in Finchley, north London, where a science teacher at Tonbridge School inspired his love of natural history. Leaving school at 16, he became a cadet journalist on the Courier, before serving in the Second World War as a captain in the Royal Marines in north Africa and Italy. After the war, he became Executive Editor of Lilliput magazine, Assistant Editor of Picture Post and founding Editor of the Angling Times. Colin found his niche when Aubrey Buxton enlisted him to help with Anglia Television's first natural history programme, The London Scene, in 1961 - leading to the subsequent establishment of Anglia Television's Survival Unit.
Colin became the Unit's Creative Head and remained in the post for over thirty years, writing and producing over 400 films. As Head of Anglia's Natural History Unit, his objective was to reach a wide audience by making wildlife conservation a popular issue using innovative styles, punchy language and carefully choosing the stories to present. With his talent and humour, Colin was the ideal choice as writer for what became a genre that was christened 'Pop-Nat-Hist'.
A prolific and gifted writer, Colin wrote 36 books and regularly contributed to a variety of magazines and papers. In 1986 he was awarded a Royal Television Society Fellowship for his outstanding contribution to the industry, and in 1987 the Royal Geographical Society awarded him the Cherry Kearton Medal and Award for excellence in the study of natural history through cinematography.
Colin Willock died on the 26th of March 2005.
View the oral history of Colin Willock
S.O.S. Rhino (1961)
