Mason was born in Kings Norton, Birmingham, England to Elsie Ann (née Berkeley) and Edward Daniel Mason; Elsie's father Rowland Hill Berkeley had been Lord Mayor of Birmingham in 1904-1905.[2]
Mason was educated at Gresham's School, Holt, between 1929 and 1934.[3] After six months as a stockbroker, he went up to Christ's College, Cambridge, where he read English and joined the Cambridge University Film Society.[4][5][6]
In the 1940s, he moved to Hampstead Heath, London,[7] with his wife and son Nick Mason, who became the drummer of Pink Floyd.[1] A filmmaker and amateur racing car driver, because of a lifelong passion for motor sports Bill Mason specialized in observing them as a maker of documentary films.[7] His enthusiasm for the world of motoring was passed on to his son Nick, who wrote about them in his book Into the Red (2004).[8][9] Mason's success was such that Nick was given an Aston Martin sports car as a teenager.[7]
As well as making films,[10] Mason was also a scriptwriter.[1]
