Background
The son of John Vickers-Willis by his second wife Mildred Amelia, the daughter of journalist Horace Whitcomb, he was born in Mill Hill, England, and migrated to Australia with his parents at the age of seven.
The son of John Vickers-Willis by his second wife Mildred Amelia, the daughter of journalist Horace Whitcomb, he was born in Mill Hill, England, and migrated to Australia with his parents at the age of seven.
He was educated in Melbourne at Brighton Grammar School and Haileybury after the family moved to Australia in 1925.
He was also an author of a best selling book and a campaigner for social change. He had an elder sister and a younger brother, as well as two older half-brothers from his father"s first marriage. He worked as a cadet journalist for the Sun Herald, Melbourne, and during World World War II served as an Royal Australian Air Force instructor and Spitfire pilot.
Embarking on a new career, he became the most popular square-dance caller of the day, and at one stage one of Australia"s highest paid entertainers.
At the age of 36 he contracted polio. His website gives an account of his affliction with the disease.
This ended his career as a square dance caller and this signalled the end of the square dance boom. The doctors gave him around 5 to 10 years to live but he defied medical opinion and lived for another 50 plus years.
In addition to being a square dance caller he was also an avid nudist.
He was an Australian Senate candidate in 1967. Later years
He died at 90 years of age. Quality Of Life Association (President)
When he ran as s senate candidate for Victoria in the 1967 Australian Senate election, his election platform was "Vote Us Out Of Vietnam".
Vickers-Willis was a member of ARM aka the Australian Reform Movement.