His Life & Career

A father at Bletchley Park

Quentin’s father, Professor H. B. Willson, was a wartime code breaker. Recruited from Cambridge University to the famous Hut 4 at Bletchley Park, he became the first person to decode the Hagelin encryption machine, the Italian equivalent of Enigma – an achievement acknowledged to have had a ‘significant outcome’ on the Second World War.

Quentin Willson is born

The start of a life that would be spent around cars – writing about them, presenting them and fighting for the people who drive them.

Writing for the nation

Quentin wrote for The Times, The Sunday Times, The Telegraph, the Daily Express, What Car, BBC Good Homes, Classic & Sportscar, AA Magazine and the Mirror, among many others.

The Mirror and Sunday Mirror

He wrote weekly columns for the Mirror and Sunday Mirror for 15 years, and for Classic Cars Magazine for nine years.

Top Gear The Good Car Guide

Quentin turned his knowledge of the motor industry into print as author of the BBC publications Top Gear The Good Car Guide, followed by books including Ultimate Classic Car and Classic American Cars.

His books →

Motoring Writer of the Year

He was awarded the Press Association Motoring Writer of the Year Award for his work to bring UK new car prices down to European levels – saving British motorists £3 billion.

Top Gear

Quentin was a Top Gear presenter for over a decade, and also wrote and presented BBC2’s The Car’s The Star.

Driving the future

On Top Gear he was one of the first journalists to drive General Motors’ $1 billion EV1 electric car.

Britain’s Worst Driver

Quentin created the Britain’s Worst Driver format, now shown in 14 international territories. It spawned Britain’s Worst Teenager, Worst Mother-in-Law, Worst DIYer and Britain’s Worst Pet – and, in Canada, Canada’s Worst Driver and Worst Home Improver. He also devised and presented BBC2’s All the Right Moves, the first TV property buying and selling show.

More on television →

The Britain’s Worst Driver final

Rose d’Or nomination

Quentin’s Worst format was nominated for the Montreux Rose d’Or for Best TV Reality Show.

Strictly Come Dancing

He held the lowest ever recorded score on Strictly Come Dancing – eight out of 40, in the second series – which he described as his ‘proudest television achievement’.

Fifth Gear

Quentin started Channel 5’s Fifth Gear.

The Classic Car Show

The Classic Car Show, which Quentin created and co-hosted, first aired on Channel 5 on 5 February 2015.

FairFuelUK

Quentin co-founded FairFuelUK, the UK’s most successful single-issue lobby petition. His two-million-signature petition saved UK motorists £100 billion in fuel duty and VAT rises.

Delivering the petition

Quentin handed in the first wave of the FairFuelUK petition at 10 Downing Street – over 120,000 signatures gathered in little over five weeks against rising fuel costs.

Campaigning →

Lobbying for drivers

A regular face in Westminster, Quentin lobbied ministers and MPs to get a better deal for Britain’s 40 million licence holders.

Living electric

He owned Leafs, Zoes, Amperas, i-MiEVs and even a vintage 1970s Enfield Electric, and drove 70,000 miles in battery-only electric cars – driving and charging his own EVs every day while others mocked them.

Campaigning for EVs

Quentin worked with the government and the Office for Low Emission Vehicles, gave evidence to Select Committees and House of Lords round tables, campaigned with Boris Johnson for greater EV adoption, and became patron of the Hydrogen Trust and a judge for the £10 million Future UK EV Battery prize.

Top 100 EV influencers

Quentin was ranked 18th on Green Fleet’s list of the Top 100 EV influencers for 2020.

Electric cars →

A sought-after host

Quentin was a regular conference host and after-dinner speaker, working with the DVLA, Barclays, HSBC, BT, TK Maxx, Calor Gas, Shell, BP, the RAC, Hewlett Packard, Schroders, J. Walter Thompson, Ford, Volkswagen, Citroën, Chrysler, Jaguar, Land Rover, AVL and many more. He was also a BAFTA film judge.