Artist in paint, stained glass and mosaic, and lecturer, born in Yorkshire, where he settled at Ilkley. He studied at Reading University, 1969–73, under Claude Rogers, Terry Frost, John Wonnacott and Keith Critchlow. From 1973–5 Willson held a full-time lectureship at North Lindsey College, South Humberside, then became a freelance painter and visiting lecturer, including Bradford & Ilkley Community College, Chelsea College and Institute of Advanced Architectural Studies at York University. Residencies included Leeds City Art Gallery, 1987 and 1990. Commissions included altarpieces, a ceiling and a mosaic for York Minster, between 1979–94; Provident Finance Group, Bradford, 1989; and a portrait of Sir John Harvey-Jones for Bradford University, 1991.