WILSON IN YEARS
1943
Born in Enfield, North London
1958
Begins an apprenticeship as a ladies hairdresser in Palmers Green
1967
Joins the Merchant Navy on the SS Oronsay as the ship’s barber
1969
Moves to Barbados with his wife Barbara to run a hairdressing salon
1971
Relocates to Norwich, Norfolk and opens his John’s Tackle Den shop
1973
A fishing writing career begins with ‘Angling’ magazine
1976
Publishes his first fishing book ‘A Specimen Fishing Year’
1978
Radio is explored with a six-part angling series for BBC Radio 4
1984
John moves to a house in Great Witchingham. This is to be his home until he moves to Thailand in 2013
1984
A mutual friend introduces John to TV Producer Peter Akehurst and three pilot fishing shows are shot. Anglia TV prove to be the only takers but it is enough to begin a mighty television legacy
1986
The first six-part Go Fishing series is shot
1987
Go Fishing airs on Anglia TV with 2.6 million viewers at its peak
1988
The show goes mainstream with Channel 4 after the second series
1993
John begins to pen a regular fishing column for the Sunday Express
2002
Go Fishing’s run on terrestrial TV comes to an end after 16 years
2004
Canada and Zambia are just two of the locations featured in his new series John Wilson’s Fishing Safari
2006
John is voted the UK’s number one angler by our readers in an end-of-year poll
2007
A new series, John Wilson’s Dream Fishing, is aired
2008
John publishes a memoir with his popular ‘Sixty Years a Fisherman’ book
2009
The Discovery Channel hosts John Wilson’s Fishing World as he hunts the globe for big fish
2009
Receives an MBE for services to angling
2013
Relocates to Thailand
2018
A glittering life burns out with John’s death at the age of 75