He studied history at St John's College, Oxford, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree; as per tradition, his BA was promoted to a Master of Arts (MA Oxon) degree.
He later undertook postgraduate research at Nuffield College, Oxford, and completed his Doctor of Philosophy degree in 1978[2] on the coalition government of David Lloyd George and Britain's imperial policy in Egypt and the Middle East between 1918 and 1922.
[2] In 1984, he moved to the University of Oxford where he had been appointed the Beit Lecturer in the History of the Commonwealth of Nations.
[7] His current research is into the role of the great port cities of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
[4] He was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2020 New Year Honours for services to the study of global history.