Born in Dulwich on 18 January 1928, Terence Higgins was educated locally. He served in the RAF between 1946-48 before pursuing a career in running, becoming a Commonwealth silver medallist and competing in the 1952 Summer Olympics. He then attended Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge when he became President of the Cambridge Union in 1958. He married Rosalyn Higgins and they have two children. Rosalyn was the first female judge elected to the International Court of Justice, becoming President in 2006. She was made a Dame in 1995.
Terence Higgins was elected Conservative MP for Worthing in 1964 and held the seat until retirement in 1997. He became an opposition spokesman for Treasury and Economic Affairs and in government held junior ministerial posts at the Treasury between 1970 and 1974. He continued these roles in opposition before returning to the backbenches in 1976, serving on the executive of the 1922 Committee between 1980 and 1997. After stepping down from the Commons he was created a life peer as Baron Higgins of Worthing.