12 Facts About Robyn Williams

Robyn Williams attended various schools in London, including the Bec School in Tooting Bec, as well as spending a few years at a German language school in Vienna, Austria.

Robyn Williams first spent time in Australia in 1964 and worked as a temporary clerk at the Decimal Currency Board of Australia, among other jobs.

Robyn Williams moved back to London with his Australian wife to study science.

Robyn Williams graduated from the University of London with a Bachelor of Science degree.

Robyn Williams joined the Australian Broadcasting Corporation Science Unit in 1972 where, after several years in background production and interviewing for the Insight program, he hosted Innovations in early 1974, Investigations from 6 November 1974.

Ockham's Razor followed in 1984, with Robyn Williams introducing a leading scientist or personality who then expounds from a prepared text on a topic of their choice, with a view to making a subject simple and accessible to the public, hence the title relating to the famous statement on parsimony by William of Ockham.

In Conversation commenced in 1997, with Robyn Williams interviewing the personality.

In 1977, Robyn Williams gave an impassioned speech to the ABC Staff Association against ABC management's quiescence in the face of budget cuts and political interference.

Robyn Williams said that a UK proposal that the government appoint one third of BBC board members had been publicly opposed by BBC management but that the ABC chairman acted as if he headed an organisation rivalling the BBC.

Robyn Williams met Pamela Traylor when in Australia for the first time, and they married on 10 June 1966 before both moving back to the UK, where he studied science.

Robyn Williams is a good friend of fellow ABC presenter, Norman Swan, a qualified medical doctor, who intervened to help save his life when he suffered a cardiac arrest in 1988.

Robyn Williams underwent chemotherapy for colorectal cancer in 2014 and 2015; at one point he was hospitalised for five weeks but continued to make The Science Show from his hospital bed.