She attended Nantwich Grammar School, but left before completing her A-Levels when she discovered that Trinity College, Dublin did not then require entrants to have taken them.
[2] Fort decided to apply to join the Foreign Office, despite the fact that she was advised that as a female, and not even an Oxbridge graduate, she had little chance of being selected.
[1][2] Postings to New York City, Bangkok (a secondment to SEATO), Bonn and Lagos followed,[1][2] with appointment as an officer in the Diplomatic Service on 24 April 1973.
[1] Mozambique was still in the throes of its civil war and Fort became involved in the negotiations to bring the conflict to and end, building contacts between President Joaquim Chissano and the RENAMO leader, Afonso Dhlakama.
[1] The situation in Lebanon was such that she lived in a fortified compound, and travelled in an armoured Range Rover — her escape was walking in the Lebanese mountains, still accompanied by 'the boys', one of whom carried her beloved dog, Chloe, a white Pomeranian-Maltese cross, in a knapsack.