[1][2] He attended St Olave's Grammar School in Orpington, Kent, then studied at Lancaster University with Edward Cowie and John Buller.
As a student, a meeting with Sir Michael Tippett had a profound influence on him, when he told him "to forget about musical systems and trust his instincts".
[3] After moving to Australia, he lectured at the School of Creative Arts at the University of Wollongong, NSW, from 1983 to 1995,[3] and during this time earned a PhD for his thesis on musical word setting from Elvis Costello to Elliott Carter.
[2] Ford was composer-in-residence with the Australian Chamber Orchestra (1992–94),[2] held the Peggy Glanville-Hicks Composer Fellowship from 1998 to 2000 and was awarded a two-year fellowship by the Music Board of the Australia Council for the Arts for 2005 to 2006.
For the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, he wrote, presented and co-produced the radio series Illegal Harmonies, Dots on the Landscape, Music and Fashion, Earth Dances and Three Front Doors a Paddock (with painter Ben Quilty)[2] Since 1995 he has presented The Music Show on ABC Radio National.