Maurice Willoughby

The son of Army colonel Douglas Vere Willoughby, Maurice Willoughby was educated at Haileybury School, before going to the Royal Military College at Sandhurst. He obtained a commission into the Highland Light Infantry (HLI) in 1933. His father, grandfather and great-grandfather all served in Highland Regiments before him. Maurice disliked being a soldier in peace time, but equally disliked his batman’s constantly singing the praises of the last officer he looked after, the actor David Niven. Maurice served the HLI for 26 years, and saw service in, amongst others places, India, Lebanon and Europe, before retiring in 1959, when he was granted the honorary rank of lieutenant-colonel. During his time as a cadet with the HLI he was a fine cricketer and middle-distance runner.

Willoughby took part in the Winter Pentathlon at the 1948 St. Moritz Olympics. He was involved in an incident involving a Swedish competitor, who accidentally fired his rifle while turning away from the target. It narrowly missed Willoughby, but hit a Swiss policeman. Willoughby missed his next three shots and, as a result, was last of the 11 finishers. After his Army career, Willoughby was a ski correspondent for the Daily Mail. He also imported ski equipment, and was a coach to the Ski Federation of Great Britain for a while.

Willoughby carved out another career for himself in 1983, when he had his own 30-minute TV show on BBC television called, simply, Willoughby. It was about the then 69-year-old defying old age and pursuing various eccentric and daredevil activities. Willoughby could speak six languages and, shortly before his death, published his memoirs: Echo of A Distant Drum: The Last Generation of Empire.