Des Wilson

Des Wilson (born 5 March 1941) from New Zealand became well known in the United Kingdom in 1966 as one of the founders of the housing campaign Shelter and went on to a 60 year career as a leading environmental and social campaigner, politician, journalist and author and public affairs advisor to businesses. In 1989 he was named Environmentalist of the Decade in ITN's nationally televised awards and more recently he was presented with a lifetime Achievement award for campaigning by the Sheila McKechnie Foundation.

Background

He was born in Oamaru New Zealand, one of six children of Mr and Mrs A.H. Wilson. His father ran a painting firm. He went to local schools including the well-known Waitaki Boys' High School, but left school at 15 to become a junior reporter on the Otago Daily Times and later the Evening Star in Dunedin. His passions as a teenager were cricket, the theatre and journalism and he was to feature prominently in all these areas later when living in the United Kingdom. In 1959 he went to Australia and worked on the 'Melbourne Sun' and then in 1960 travelled to London, arriving with only £5.

In addition to his leadership of Shelter as director from 1966 to 1971, he was, in the 1980s, founder chairman of Clear, the campaign that led to lead-free petrol across Europe, chairman and then subsequent director of Friends of the Earth. He was also chairman of 'Parents against tobacco' and 'Citcom', a campaign for legal reform and founded the Campaign for Freedom of Information; all these led to new laws supportive of the citizen in relation to big business and the State. He is credited with the concept of the campaigning charity and many of the country's leading campaigners in the last 30 years of the 20th Century began their careers with him. He also established a trans-Atlantic campaigning relationship with the American campaigner Ralph Nader and the two conducted a number of campaigning tours and workshops.

As a journalist and writer he wrote his own column for The Guardian, The Observer and The New Statesman, was deputy editor of The Illustrated London News and editor of 'Social Work Today'. He has written or edited 15 books including his autobiography 'Memoirs of a minor public figure', published on his 70th birthday in 2011 and two novels.

As a politician he fought a by-election in Hove for the old Liberal Party in 1973, achieving a 37% swing to his party, went on to become President of the party and one of the founders of the Liberal Democrats. He ran the party's first General Election campaign in 1992.

For nearly 30 years he was a regular on radio and television including radio's Any Questions and television's Question Time. In the 1960s he fronted two LWT Sunday night series and made a documentary for the BBC as part of its 'One pair of eyes' series.

In business he became director of corporate and public affairs with BAA and a driving force in the corporate citizenship movement. He and his then BAA chairman John Egan wrote a book promoting corporate citizenship.

He served six years as a board member of the British Tourist Authority and three years as deputy chairman of the English Sports Council and chairman of the Sports Lottery panel. He became public affairs advisor to the MCC and a board member of the English Cricket Board but resigned in protest at the board's decision to tour Zimbabwe in the face of international opposition.

Semi-retired, Des Wilson became involved in the world of professional poker, competing in the main event of the World Series of Poker three times, winning over $80,000 in tournaments and writing two acclaimed books on poker and specialising in writing profiles of old-school players for poker magazines.

In recent years he has travelled extensively to over 70 countries and published a limited edition of his travel photography.

Personal

He has married to Jane, an artist, for over 35 years and has a daughter, who has recently retired from a senior position in the NHS and a son, Tim, who has his own public affairs consultancy. He and Jane lived in London for a number of years, then moved to Cornwall for 25 and now live in Hastings.

Bibliography

• Wilson, Des (1983). The Lead Scandal. Ashgate. ISBN 0-435-83946-2.
• Wilson, Des (1984). Secrets File: The Case for Freedom of Information in Britain Today. Heinemann Educ. ISBN 0-435-83939-X.
• Wilson, Des (1984). The Environmental Crisis: A Handbook for All Friends of the Earth. Ashgate. ISBN 0-435-83944-6.
• Wilson, Des; Andrews, Leighton (1994). Campaigning: The A to Z of Public Advocacy. Thorogood. ISBN 1-85418-036-3.
• Wilson, Des (2006). Swimming with the Devilfish... Under the Surface of Professional Poker. Macmillan. ISBN 1-4050-8952-0.
• Wilson, Des (2007). Ghosts at the Table: The amazing story of Poker... the world's most popular game. Mainstream Publishing. ISBN 9781845962081.
• Wilson, Des (3 March 2011). Memoirs of a Minor Public Figure (Hardcover ed.). Quartet Books. ISBN 978-0704372054.

Sources

• BBC article, Shelter in 1969

External links

• Official website
• Poker: The Guardian 5 November 2007
• Poker: The Guardian 15 October 2007
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