Ackrill has been said to be, along with Gregory Vlastos and G. E. L. Owen, "one of the most important figures responsible for the upsurge of interest in ancient Greek philosophy among Anglo-American philosophers of the second half of this century".
[2] The next year he left for war service in the Royal Berkshire Regiment and General Staff, reaching the rank of captain.
He returned to Oxford in 1945 to read Literae Humaniores (or 'Greats', a combination of philosophy and ancient history), graduating in 1948.
Granted two years of study-leave, Ackrill was a visiting scholar at the Institute for Advanced Study in 1950-51 (as he was again in 1961-62)[4] before becoming, in 1953, a tutorial fellow at Brasenose College.
[3] In 2009, Brasenose College inaugurated The John Ackrill Memorial Lecture which is held annually "in honour of the outstanding contribution he made to the study of ancient philosophy".