Born in Luton on 2 February 1936, he was the son of a tradesman, Francis Goodyear, who later served as mayor of town.
[1] Goodyear was a research fellow at St John's from 1959 to 1960, when he was elected to a fellowship at Queens' College, Cambridge.
In 1966, he moved to Bedford College, London, aged only 30, to occupy the Hildred Carlile Chair of Latin.
He was then appointed to a visiting professorship at the University of the Witwatersrand, which he held until his death following a heart attack on 24 July 1987, having suffered with alcoholism in his last years; he left a widow, (Cynthia) Rosalie (née Attwood), and a son, Richard.
Goodyear had been elected a member of the Accademia Nazionale Virgiliana in 1974 and a fellow of the British Academy in 1984.