stigwood was born in 1934 in port pirie, south australia, the son of gwendolyn (burrows) and gordon stigwood, an electrical engineer. he was educated at sacred heart college in adelaide. he began his working life as a copywriter for a local advertising agency, before emigrating to england in 1955. it proved an eventful trip: in one incident, recounted by simon napier-bell, stigwood bravely climbed fifty feet down a rope ladder into the hold of a tanker to administer morphine to a seaman who had fallen through a hatch. in turkey he spent several months living with the family of a young friend in a hut in a small village and working with them in the field.