Alan Walters was born in Leicester in 1926. He studied statistics at University College, Leicester, and then took an MA in economics at Nuffield College, Oxford. On leaving Nuffield in 1951, Walters became a Lecturer in Econometrics at the University of Birmingham, and was later appointed Professor of Econometrics and Social Statistics. He remained at the University until 1968, before becoming the Sir Ernest Cassel Professor of Economics at the London School of Economics, 1968-76. From 1968–70, Walters was also a member of the Roskill Commission on the Third London Airport. Later, he became an economic adviser to the World Bank, 1976-80 & 1984-88 and a Professor of Economics at Johns Hopkins University, 1976-91. He was appointed as Chief Economic Adviser to the Prime Minister (Margaret Thatcher) from 1981-84 and, following his return from the United States, for a further period in 1989. He was knighted in 1983 and died in 2009.