Goodwill was born in Terrington, North Riding of Yorkshire, and was privately educated at the Quaker Bootham School[4] in York, and the University of Newcastle upon Tyne where he received a Bachelor of Science degree in agriculture in 1979.[citation needed] He has been the managing director of Mowthorpe (UK) Ltd since 1995 which offers environmentally friendly burials in the North Yorkshire countryside.[5]