He studied classics at King's College, Cambridge, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in 1949.
He then took a second undergraduate degree in Oriental studies, and specialised in Egyptology under Stephen Glanville, achieving first class honours in 1952.
[2][3] Shore began his career as a philologist, before moving into the art and material culture of Ancient Egypt.
[1] In 1994, a Festschrift was published in his honour titled "The Unbroken Reed: Studies in the Culture and Heritage of Ancient Egypt".
[1][2] Shore had periods of ill-health throughout his life, including a bout of tuberculosis that meant he spent months in a sanatorium and lost the use of one lung.