Born and brought up in Bamber Bridge, Lancashire, he started work at age 12 in the local cotton mill.

[1] He became, in 1924, an official of the Bamber Bridge and District Weavers' Union.

[2] Having distinguished himself at undergraduate and postgraduate level, and following two years in the civil service, Woodcock joined the TUC in 1936 as head of the research and economic department.

Here, Woodcock was much influenced by leading moderates in the trade union movement, such as Walter Citrine and Ernest Bevin, and also by the economic ideas of John Maynard Keynes.

In 1970 Woodcock was a candidate for the Chancellorship of the University of Kent at Canterbury, but lost to Jo Grimond.