As a schoolboy, Bill Pearson attended the South Shields Grammar-Technical School for Boys from 1943 to 1950. Two years later, he went to Hatfield College, Durham, where he read French (with Latin as a subsiduary subject).

He gained his BA (Hons) in June, 1956, and stayed on a year to gain his Diploma in Education. During his degree course, he spent a year as an English Assistant at the Lycée De Garçons, in St Etienne.

On leaving university, he joined the staff of the South Shields Grammar-Technical School for Boys, as assistant French master, in September, 1957. In 1963, he spent a year on a special Ministry of Education Russian course, and on his return to the SSGTSFB, Russian as a subject was added to the curriculum.

But Bill Pearson's interests went beyond languages - he was an accomplished photographer, and ran the school's photographic society. He was also able to make learning languages exciting, and he maintained a quiet discipline in all his classes. It was a great loss to the school when, in July 1967 he left to take up a Senior Master's post at a school in Reading.