He undertook national service in the RAF, but through an accidental hand grenade detonation lost hearing in his left ear.
[1] After the war, he worked as a copywriter with Clarks in Somerset, then moved to advertising agencies in London.
[1] In 1969 Harding changed his career and became a Lecturer in French at Woolwich Polytechnic, where he taught for 25 years.
[1] Initially as a holiday activity he began writing, with his first book in 1965 on Saint-Saëns and His Circle following this in 1968 with Sacha Guitry, The Last Boulevardier and studies of Massenet, Rossini, Gounod, Satie, Offenbach, Maurice Chevalier and Jacques Tati,[1] and provided notes for French music records.
[1] Late in life Harding became interested in Malaysia, which he visited several times; he taught himself Malay in order to compile a book on the singer and film actor P. Ramlee.