BILL LAWRENCE, who died on October 30, 2021 after a long illness, had lived a life in parallel realities, some of which were concurrent and some consecutive.

He had been a police officer in north-east England, a trade union rep, a legal researcher, a health and safety activist, a historian, a playwright, a freelance journalist, an international trade analyst, a film and TV extra, an organiser of health and safety conferences, a member of the Construction Safety Campaign and a ban asbestos campaigner. His range of interests included both local and global issues of a social as well as historical nature.

He was always off to attend a meeting or an interview to provide support for anyone who found themselves in need. This included British workers injured by industrial diseases, non-English speaking immigrants in difficulties with British bureaucracy or campaigners needing access to the extensive and unique historical database which was Bill Lawrence.