Colin M. Turnbull was born in London in November 23, 1924. He received his education at Westminster School and later at Magdalene College at Oxford University. Turnbull studied philosophy, politics and music. He was part of the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve during World War II. Then, he was granted a research in the Department of Indian Religion and Philosophy at Banaras Hindu University in India. Later, he returned to attend to Oxford University where he studied anthropology and specialized in African field. Turnball was highly influenced by E.E. Evans-Pritchard, one of his professors. In 1951 he took a motorcycle trip to view East Africa, the Congo, the Sudan and Egypt. There he became really interested by African ethnology. In this trip he had his first encounter with the Pygmies. Under a grant from the Royal Anthropological Institute, Turnbull returned to Africa (Congo) in 1957 to continue his research on Pygmy tribes. Most of his works were based on Africa ethnology and he made six major trips to Africa. Because of his important researches and work he received many important positions. For example, he gained the position of Assistant Curator of African Ethnology at the American Museum of Natural History, was a geologist for a gold mine in northern Canada, wrote many articles discussed in television and radio, and made various documentary tapes. His last important position was teaching at George Washington University.

Turnbull met Joseph Towles in 1959. They exchanged vows in 1960. They worked together most of the time and Towels accompanied him on the trips to Africa. In the Congo in 1970, they conducted fieldwork on the Nkumbi circumcision initiation ritual for boys. They were inseparable. After Towles died Turnball donated all his belongings and their research. After the death of his partner he left to Bloomington and later in 1994 died of complications of AIDS.