He was also an author and wrote biographies of Albert Margai, prime minister of Sierra Leone (1964–67), and Kwame Nkrumah, president of Ghana (1960–66).
He attended the Methodist Boys' High School in Freetown, where, as senior prefect, he was already establishing himself as a journalist by writing for the Sierra Leone Weekly News.
After school in 1943, he attended the University Tutorial College in London, England, hoping to prepare himself for a career in dentistry, a vocation his father was keen for him to follow.
During this time, Timothy began freelancing articles and also acted as London correspondent for the Sierra Leone Weekly News, Ashanti Pioneer and some Asian newspapers.
The Daily Express gave Timothy a great deal of international experience, as his assignments involved travelling to North Africa and Jamaica.
The then head of the Mirror Group, Cecil King, who was responsible for starting this Ghanaian paper, felt that Timothy was ideally suited for this particular post.
He eventually became assistant editor of the Central Office of Information magazine, Commonwealth Today, and during this time he was invited to attend the Tashkent conference of African writers in the Soviet Union.
,In 1965, Timothy was appointed to the Diamond Corporation West Africa Limited and, after a brief period in the public relations department in Freetown, he was transferred to London.