I met Bill as a student at Exeter University in the 60s. He was the year above me so our social circles only overlapped partially, but he was such a distinctive character in his red loons that he couldn’t be missed. Generally people gravitated primarily to the pub – the John Bull near St David’s station, selling rough cider with a dash of lemonade at 10d (4 new pence) a pint when I arrived in 1967, or preferred to enjoy the illegal substances which were readily available throughout the university. Of course, there was overlap between the two, but even at that age even the most robust of us could not endure the whirling pits, brought on by combining the two pleasures, too frequently. Bill was certainly one of those who indulged in both.

When we met up many years later Bill told me that he often acted as a roadie for Principal Edwards Magic Theatre, a band made up of a small group of his contemporaries from the university, who for some inexplicable reason were lauded by John Peel on his radio show. They sometimes used to stay with John in his London flat, and were hugely disliked by his wife Sheila as they expected her to do their washing, but failed to pick her up as she was struggling to the launderette with their washing one day when they drove past in John’s dormobile which they had commandeered.

I don’t think that could have happened if Bill had been driving as he was always ready to help others, but being part of that scene meant that he was a target for the local Exeter drug squad, consisting of the hapless Peacock and Glover. Given the ubiquity of drug taking throughout the student community they had remarkably little success. With unrestrained delight Bill told me that some years later he enjoyed the considerable schadenfreude of role reversal when Peacock and Glover were enrolled on one of his training sessions for the local police force. Those were extraordinary days, and Bill was an extraordinary character, who maintained his quirky and humorous outlook on life to the end, acting as a conduit to others for all those who had known him socially.