He brought young and forward-thinking sculptors into the department to teach, among them Anthony Caro, Robert Clatworthy, Elisabeth Frink and Eduardo Paolozzi.
In the 1960s and 1970s the sculpture department at Saint Martin's was, in the words of Tim Scott: "the most famous in the art world".
He also worked as a sculptor's assistant, first to Charles Wheeler, later president of the Royal Academy, and then, for about two years until the outbreak of war, for William McMillan, for whom he also sat.
[1] He used his physique as a model for the figures in a fountain Charles Wheeler and William McMillian sculpted for Trafalgar Square.
In 1946 or 1947 he began teaching clay modelling at Saint Martin's, and soon after was asked to set up a sculpture department.