Researching Richard Williams

Williams came from a working-class background in South Australia. He was a lieutenant in the Army when he learned to fly at Point Cook, Victoria, in 1914. As a pilot with the Australian Flying Corps (AFC) in World War I, Williams rose to command No. 1 Squadron AFC, and later 40th Wing RAF. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Order and finished the war a lieutenant colonel. Afterwards he campaigned for an Australian Air Force run separately to the Army and Navy, which came into being on 31 March 1921.

The fledgling RAAF faced several challenges to its continued existence in the 1920s and early 1930s, and Williams received much of the credit for maintaining its independence, but an adverse report on flying safety standards saw him dismissed from the position of CAS and seconded to the RAF prior to World War II. Despite support in various quarters for his reinstatement as Air Force chief, and promotion to air marshal in 1940, he never again commanded the RAAF. After the war he was forcibly retired along with other World War I veteran officers. He took up the position of Director-General of Civil Aviation in Australia, and was knighted the year before his retirement in 1955.

As a writer, then deputy editor, of the weekly music newspaper Melody Maker, he became an influential commentator on the rise of new forms of rock music at the end of the 1960s. Williams and MM, as it was known, helped promote and contextualise the progressive in pop music. In particular, Williams wrote several key articles around 1970 that increased UK attention to the (then disintegrating) Velvet Underground. Melody Maker still covered jazz and Williams wrote about the more progressive developments in this field also.

The magazine's serious approach to rock music and culture, under the editorship of Ray Coleman, secured MM a huge circulation by the close of the 1960s and the start of the 1970s. It left New Musical Express, a more pop-orientated weekly, in its wake as MM caught the mood of rock followers at a time when the music had transcended its Top 40 roots to become a powerful symbol of social and cultural change. Williams was a vocal and influential supporter of Bob Marley during the early seventies. He wrote several key features at Melody Maker which resulted in Marley's first important cover stories.

Williams moved on to new challenges in the early 1970s. Beginning in May 1970 he contributed to The Times and continued to write for that paper until October 1989. He also wrote regularly for Radio Times. He left journalism to join Island Records' A&R department in 1973, becoming department head. For two years he signed and developed artists including Pete Wingfield, Stone Delight, Bryn Haworth and John Cale.

The first presenter of the BBC rock show The Old Grey Whistle Test (launched in 1971) while still a member of the MM team, and shortly thereafter its producer, he later became editor of the new London listings guide Time Out and returned to MM as editor from 1978 to 1980.

After a period as features editor at The Sunday Times he became editor of the Independent on Sundays Sunday Review. His music journalism has been gathered in the volume Long Distance Call: Writings on Music and biographies of Bob Dylan (A Man Called Alias), Miles Davis (The Man in the Green Shirt), and Phil Spector (Out of His Head) are among his list of other publications.

Williams remains an active journalist and is the former chief sports writer of The Guardian, covering a full array of sports. He has written several books on Formula One including The Death of Ayrton Senna, Racers (an analysis of the main participants of the 1996 F1 season), Enzo Ferrari: A Life, and The Last Road Race (a study of the changing balance in Formula One between British and Italian teams, using the 1957 Pescara Grand Prix as the backdrop).

Williams' comments about music and related film, photography and art topics are published in the form of his blog, The Blue Moment.

Williams was born in Yeovil, Somerset. He entered motor sport through karting before moving to cars. After coming 4th overall with a single race win the Renault Clio Cup in 2004, he entered the 2005 BTCC in a Lexus, ran by SpeedEquipe and sponsored by Friends Reunited and HPI Racing. He came 14th overall in a small field, with a best result of 7th . In 2006 he contested the Porsche Carrera Cup, with a best result of 3rd, also entering the Supercup round at Silverstone as a wild card of sorts. For 2007 he is contesting the British GT Championship

Garnons Williams became an officer in the British Army in 1876, and retired from regular service in 1892, though he continued to serve in a voluntary capacity until 1906. Already aged 58 at the outbreak of the First World War, he rejoined the army and was killed in action in 1915.

He was born in Toronto. After completing his education, Williams worked on the family farm in Simcoe County before finding work in a lumber mill. In 1874, he married Mary Susan Reid. In 1881, he headed west to Fort Garry and continued on to Regina in 1882, where his wife and family joined him. Williams entered the construction business there before opening a lumber supply company in 1891. In 1888, he established the Glasgow House, the main department store in Regina for almost 60 years. He served on the board of the Regina General Hospital, serving as chairman from 1915 to 1921, and was also a member of the school board.

Williams died in Regina at the age of 72 from complications stomach cancer.

Sir Richard Williams is notable for being the first commanding officer of the Royal Marine Artillery, and for subsequently commanding the Portsmouth Division of Royal Marines during 1827–1835.

In American history he is remembered as the senior ranking officer of the Royal Marines to serve on the British North America and West Indies Station during the War of 1812.

Historian Paul Harris Nicolas (1790–1860), himself a former Royal Marine officer and the author of the two-volume Historical Record of the Marine Forces (1845), paid tribute to Williams' firm hand in controlling the conduct of his troops on foreign soil. Williams would not condone looting on the part of those under his command.