 Switching from the standard Classical curriculum to History, he was taught by, among others, the young Robert Birley.At Balliol College, Oxford, in 1931–1934, he was tutored in Modern History mainly by B. H. Sumner and V. H. Galbraith, obtaining a First.He was called to the Bar in 1935 and worked in Chancery Chambers until the outbreak of World War II.