Bill attended Churcher’s College (1943-1950) then went to Oriel College, Oxford, cutting his journalistic teeth on the student newspaper, Cherwell.

Starting on the Express & Star and moving to The Times, from 1960-1964 he was Commonwealth Staff Correspondent and Africa Correspondent, covering the period of rapid decolonisation.

In 1964 he returned to Oxford as a careers adviser, where he wrote Unscrambling an Empire, a critique of British colonial policy.

In 1968 Bill moved to Cambridge, Heading the University Careers Service (1968-1992). He then became secretary of the Cambridge Society and editor of CAMBRIDGE, retiring in 2003.  He also spent four years as Advisor on Public Relations to the University.

Bill was elected a Fellow of Wolfson College in 1969 and in 2000 became Emeritus. In 1982 he founded the Wolfson Press Fellowship, of which he was Director for 14 years and in 1993 he was awarded an MBE for services to journalism.

In 1994 he started writing a fortnightly column for The Hindu that he continued for over 20 years.

Bill was an enthusiastic amateur organist and played regularly for services in the village church.

Bill is survived by his wife Anne, their three children and seven grandchildren.