[5] Wilson attended University College School in Hampstead, North London.

In 1974, he won the Lester R. Ford Award from the Mathematical Association of America for his expository article An introduction to matroid theory.

In July 2008, he published a study of the mathematical work of Lewis Carroll, the creator of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass — Lewis Carroll in Numberland: His Fantastical Mathematical Logical Life (Allen Lane, 2008.

From January 1999 to September 2003, Wilson was editor-in-chief of the European Mathematical Society Newsletter and in 2003-2008 an Associate Editor.

[13] In 2007, he was a guest on Private Passions, the biographical music discussion programme on BBC Radio 3.