[2] Parkinson was born in 1923 in Tianjin, China, to British parents.
He was educated at Bradford Grammar School and Wadham College, Oxford, where he obtained a First Class Honours degree in Literae Humaniores in 1949, and the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in 1952.
[2] His doctoral thesis concerned Baruch (Benedictus de) Spinoza.
Later work focused on Gottfried W. (von) Leibniz.
In 1950 he was appointed Assistant Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Reading, under then Head of Department Professor H A Hodges, and he remained in the department until he retired.