Brigadier Hugh Willing CBE

Hugh Willing has a lifelong connection to Africa, the Middle East and the wider world and specialises in British military and colonial history. Born and brought up in Kenya and the Seychelles, and educated in Britain, Hugh spent his formative years in Nigeria and Ghana, where his father worked for the United Africa Company mostly running ports in the Niger Delta. His personal experience, and that of his wife Jane, of living in East and West Africa, combined with extensive subsequent travel throughout Africa, Arabia, the Mediterranean, Europe and the Far East, provides a distinctive and authoritative foundation for his lectures. Hugh served for 36 years in the British Army, retiring in 2007 as a Brigadier. His career included service with the Royal Green Jackets and the 2nd King Edward VII’s Own Gurkha Rifles, with lengthy overseas postings in Gibraltar, Hong Kong, Cyprus, Germany, Holland, Italy and Oman. An experienced instructor, he taught at both the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and the Army Staff College, Camberley, before commanding an infantry battalion on operations in Northern Ireland. His final appointment was as Defence Attaché at the British Embassy in Muscat, Oman, where he served for four years and was closely involved in supporting British operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Horn of Africa. A speaker of Swahili, Arabic and Gurkhali, Hugh brings together personal experience, professional expertise and a lifelong enthusiasm for the history, people, cultures and landscapes of the regions he discusses in his talks.