[1] Educated at Chigwell School in Essex and at Magdalene College, Cambridge, Boardman worked as assistant director of the British School at Athens between 1952 and 1955 before taking up a position as an assistant keeper at the Ashmolean Museum, part of the University of Oxford.

He succeeded John Beazley as Lincoln Professor of Classical Archaeology and Art at the university in 1978, remaining in post until his retirement in 1994.

[3][2] On his return to England in 1955, Boardman took up the post of Assistant Keeper at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, thus beginning his lifelong affiliation with it.

He carried out archaeological excavations at many sites, including in Smyrna, Crete, Emporio on Chios and at Tocra in Libya.

His voluminous publications focus primarily on the art and architecture of ancient Greece, particularly sculpture, engraved gems and painted vases.