William Littlejohn was born in Arbroath in 1929 and studied at Grays School of Art in Aberdeen after which he remained there as a lecturer retiring in1991 when he had reached the position of principal of the School of Painting. He was elected as a member of the Royal Scottish Academy in 1973, the Royal Glasgow Institute in 1989 and the Royal Scottish Society of Painters in Watercolour in 1990. He has had several one man exhibitions both in Scotland and England and his paintings are in several private and public collections including H.M. The Queen, Scottish Gallery of Modern Art, Royal Bank of Scotland and Edinburgh and Aberdeen Universities.