12 Facts About Willis Hall

Willis Edward Hall was an English playwright and radio, television and film writer who drew on his working-class roots in Leeds for much of his writing.

Willis Hall wrote plays such as Billy Liar, The Long and the Short and the Tall, and Celebration; the screenplays for Whistle Down the Wind, A Kind of Loving and Alfred Hitchcock's Torn Curtain; and television programmes including Budgie, Worzel Gummidge and Minder.

Willis Hall attended local council schools as well as Cockburn High School.

Willis Hall continued this successful partnership with Waterhouse and, over the next 30 years, the two men produced more than 250 scripts for theatre, film, and television including the plays Celebration and All Things Bright and Beautiful, the TV series Worzel Gummidge, Budgie and Secret Army and the screenplays for Whistle Down the Wind and Alfred Hitchcock's Torn Curtain.

Willis Hall wrote more than a dozen children's books, including a series about a family called the Hollins who meet a vegetarian vampire called Count Alucard.

Willis Hall wrote a book, Henry Hollins and the Dinosaur.

Willis Hall's membership of The Magic Circle was a source of inspiration for these books.

Willis Hall wrote 40 radio and television plays, as well as contributing to many TV series, including The Return of the Antelope and Minder.

Willis Hall wrote a musical about the scarecrow Worzel Gummidge, and others based on the books Treasure Island and The Wind in the Willows.

Willis Hall wrote the script for the successful project, Peter Pan: A Musical Adventure.

Willis Hall was a greyhound racing enthusiast, and unsuccessful owner.

On 2 November 1973, Willis Hall married the 28-year-old dancer and actress Valerie Shute, who survived him, along with his four sons.