Terence Spencer was born in 1918 during a Zeppelin raid in Bedford England. He took an engineering degree at Birmingham University, then WW2 claimed his skills as an RAF pilot flying Mustangs, Hurricanes and Spitfires. He was taken prisoner of war twice, blown up over the sea once, and had more narrow escapes than Biggles, earning himself a DFC in the process.

After the war Terence flew a single-engined airplane 8000 miles to South Africa without radio and only emergency supplies. He ran a successful aerial photographic business outside Johannesburg with his actress wife, Lesley Brook. Terence started shooting for LIFE Magazine in 1952 covering the troubles of the African continent including Sharpville and and the Congo revolution. He went on to cover stories that took him to far, distant, lonely and dangerous places, including the Vietnam war, various crises in the Middle East, Indonesia, and Cuba after The Bay of Pigs.

In 1963 he returned to England to photograph "Swinging London". At the request of his 13 year old daughter, Cara, Terence chronicled the Beatles phenomena as it was taking off, and produced a definitive book on the band, "It Was 30 Years Ago Today." He went on to shoot celebrity stories for PEOPLE Magazine which included portraits of stage and screen personalities, as well as politicians, writers and pop groups. Rockarchive has but a small selection from his vast archive. Terence is still traveling and shooting and he and his wife have recently written a book about their lives called ’Living Dangerously". An understatement.

 

Photo: by Jill Furmanovsky.