Born in South Australia, Bill Strutton won a state scholarship to university at 14 but dropped out after two years to work as an office clerk in Adelaide.
I learned several languages: German from a Serbian horse-doctor; Spanish from a Basque; a Parisian taxi-driver bequeathed me a startling vocabulary.
He wrote for more than fifteen television series in eleven years, the last of which was Strange Report, starring Anthony Quayle, and several episodes of Paul Temple before retiring in 1978 following a heart attack.
It was the first programme to feature a completely alien cast, including Martin Jarvis as a butterfly Menoptera, and introduced the menacing Zarbi.
Bill Strutton died on 23 November 2003, the day of Doctor Who's fortieth anniversary, aged 85 years.