He was born in Clapham, south London, during World War II. Neither of his parents was religious. His school was nominally Church of England, but during scripture classes he was always, as he put it, "the number one sceptic". He graduated in Modern History from Magdalen College, Oxford in 1963.[1][2]
He first came across the Shroud during the 1950s, when he was in his mid-teens, in an illustrated article by World War II hero Group Captain Leonard Cheshire. It was the image on the negative of the Shroud that dealt the first blow to his agnosticism. In 1972 he converted to Roman Catholicism.[1]
Wilson is most well known for his writings on Shroud of Turin. Writing in Free Inquiry, historian Charles Freeman heavily criticized Wilson's writings on the subject, commenting "He is not taken seriously by any respected historian... Wilson has failed to provide any significant evidence from this mass of material to back his narrative. It seems to fail at every point. He provides no evidence that the Shroud existed in Jerusalem, no evidence that a burial shroud arrived in Edessa."[3]
He participated in Channel 4's three part TV series Jesus: The Evidence (1984)[4] and wrote the accompanying book of the same name.[5] The series proved to be highly controversial and sparked a national furore, marking a significant moment in the changing fortunes of religious broadcasting in the UK.[6]
He lived in Bristol, England, for twenty-six years and now resides in Brisbane, Australia, with his wife, Judith. They have two sons, Adrian and Noel.[1]
Lost World of the Kimberley: Extraordinary New Glimpses of Australia's Ice Age Ancestors, 2006 ISBN1-741-14391-8
Murder at Golgotha: A Scientific Investigation into the Last Days of Jesus's Life, His Death, and His Resurrection, 2007 ISBN0-312-36662-0
The Shroud: The 2000-Year-Old Mystery Solved, 2010 ISBN978-0-593-06359-0 (also known as The Shroud: Fresh Light on the 2000-Year-Old Mystery, 2010 ISBN978-0-553-82422-3)
The Book of Geoffroi De Charny with the Livre Charny edited and translated by Nigel Bryant, 2021 ISBN978-1-78327-585-4
^Ian Wilson, Jesus: The Evidence (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1984). ISBN0-297-78325-4. The TV series was directed and produced by David W. Rolfe and narrated by Jeremy Kemp. [2]