Laurence Collinson was a British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 and Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

n playwright

Playwright

A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...

, actor

Actor

An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...

, poet, journalist

Journalist

A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...

, and secondary school teacher.

Biography

Born in Yorkshire

Yorkshire

Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...

, England, Collinson's family moved to Australia in 1930. While still at Brisbane State High School

Brisbane State High School

Brisbane State High School is a partially selective, co-educational, state secondary school, located in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It is a member of the Great Public Schools' Association of Queensland, and the Queensland Girls' Secondary Schools Sports Association...

, Collinson and fellow students Barrie Reid and Cecel Knopke started the magazine Barjai: A Meeting Place for Youth, which from 1943-44 published the literary avant-garde in Adelaide

Adelaide

Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...

 and Melbourne

Melbourne

Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...

. He received a secondary teaching diploma from Merrer House in Melbourne

Melbourne

Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...

 and from 1955 to 1961 taught mathematics and English in various Melbourne secondary schools.
From 1961 to 1964, Collinson worked as the editor of The Educational Magazine.
In 1964, Collinson returned to England. In the 1970s Laurence worked in his West Hampstead apartment as a Gestalt / Transactional Analysis group therapist.
He died in London November 10, 1986

Poetry

• Poet’s Dozen (1953)
• The Moods of Love" (1957)
• Who is Wheeling Grandma? (1967)
• Hovering Narcissus (1977)

Plays

• No Sugar for George (performed in Brisbane, 1949)
• Friday Night at the Schrammers (1962)
• The Zelda Trio (performed 1961 in Melbourne, and 1974 in London )
• A Slice of Birthday Cake (1965)
• Thinking Straight (1975)

Television Plays

• Uneasy Paradise (Australia, 1963)
• Nude with Violin (Noel Coward, television adaptation by Collinson, Australia, 1964)
• The Audition (Australia, 1964)
• The Moods of Love (Australia, 1964)
• Number Thirty Approximately (England, 1968)
• Loving Israel (England, 1968)
• The Girl From Upstairs (England, 1971)

Radio Plays

• A slice of birthday cake (Australia, 1963)
• The slob on Friday (Canada, 1969)