[1] Books which he wrote include Blaise Pascal: Mathematician, Physicist, and Thinker about God[2] and Balzac and the Tradition of the European Novel, as well as The Curriers' Company: A Modern History.

He became a scholar of Magdalen College, Oxford, and was tutored by Austin Gill and Sir Malcolm Pasley, graduating BA in 1959, proceeding MA in 1963.

He served as Chairman of the Board of Examiners at London University from 1983 until 1986, attracting candidates for undergraduate degrees including external students from the UK, Europe and Asia.

[9] In 1989 he was elected a Visiting Fellow of Wolfson College, Cambridge, being a promoter in the fields of public policy on the arts, libraries and museums.

[10] By speaking, writing and, through the Bow Group, submitting (with Sir John Hannam MP) written and oral evidence to a Parliamentary select committee,[11] he helped to establish the National Heritage Memorial Fund.

[22] The Genesis of Le Cousin Pons, substantially the text of Adamson's (BLitt) thesis,[23] is a detailed study of the manuscript and proof-sheets of this very late work.

[24] Blaise Pascal considers its subject from biographical, theological, religious and mathematical points of view, including the standpoint of physics.

The analysis is slightly inclined in a secular direction, giving greater emphasis to Pascal's concern with the contradictions of human nature, and rather less to his deep and traditional preoccupation with Original Sin.

[26] Adamson's study of one year in the life of the celebrated artist Oskar Kokoschka has been published to critical acclaim,[27][28] as have his recollections of Sir William Golding.