Bill Travers
| Bill Travers | |
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Bill Travers in 1966
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| Born |
William Lindon-Travers 3 January 1922 Sunderland, County Durham, England |
| Died | 29 March 1994 (aged 72) Dorking, Surrey, England |
| Years active | 1950–1992 |
| Spouse(s) | Pat Rains Virginia McKenna (1957–1994; his death) |
| Children | 5 |
William Inge Lindon-Travers MBE (3 January 1922 – 29 March 1994) was a Special Forces Army officer, English actor, screenwriter, director and animal rights activist, known professionally as Bill Travers.
Travers was born in Sunderland, County Durham, the son of Florence (née Wheatley) and William Halton Lindon-Travers. He and his sister Linden (1913–2001) both became actors, as did Linden's daughter Susan.
William Ingle Linden-Travers enlisted as a private in the British Army at the age of eighteen, a few months after the outbreak of the Second World War, and was sent to India. Travers was commissioned as a 2nd lieutenant in the Indian Army on 9 July 1942 (From the rank of private). He served in the Long Range Penetration Brigade 4th Battalion 9th Gurkha Rifles in Burma, attached to Orde Wingate's staff, during which service he came to know John Masters who was his brigade jorma (Travers was later to act in Bhowani Junction, a tale written by Masters). While deep behind enemy lines Major Travers was struck by malaria and volunteered to be left behind in a native Burmese village. To avoid capture he disguised himself as a Chinese national, walked hundreds of miles through jungle territory until he reached an allied position.
In 1945 Travers was promoted to the rank of major, and he joined Force 136 Special Operations Executive and was parachuted into Malaya. Travers was responsible for training and tactical decisions with the main resistance movement, the communist-led Malayan People’s Anti-Japanese Army (MPAJA).
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