[a] He was educated at Blundell's School in Tiverton, Devon, winning multiple scholarships and exhibitions to attend Hertford College of the University of Oxford.
[11] He was promoted multiple times and continued to climb the ranks, becoming a reader and head of the surveying and geodesy department in 1966 upon the retirement of Guy Bomford.
[12][13] Olliver 2002 records: His work for his BSc degree (converted to MSc) involved developing precise formulae for the geometry of long lines on the earth ellipsoid.
This involved making astronomical observations at 43 Ordnance Survey triangulation points, extending from Dover to John o'Groats – an arduous campaign over several seasons that had to be fitted in with his academic duties.
He also represented the United Kingdom on the international scale as a delegate to conferences and assemblies, and was the chairman of the geodesy subcommittee of the Royal Society.