His parents were Francis Heath-Stubbs, a non-practising, independently wealthy solicitor,[1][2] and his wife Edith Louise Sara, a concert pianist under her maiden name, Edie Marr.
Furthermore, "according to family tradition", they were related to the pamphleteer John Stubbs, who was sentenced to the loss of his right hand by Queen Elizabeth I for his opposition to negotiations for her marriage to Francis, Duke of Anjou, and yet remained a staunch royalist.
"[7][8] Heath-Stubbs was educated at Bembridge School on the Isle of Wight and at the age of 21 entered Queen's College, Oxford, where he read English, finding the lectures of Nevill Coghill and C. S. Lewis particularly rewarding.
By that time Heath-Stubbs had recognised his homosexuality, though his love for the poet and artist Philip Rawson was returned only in the form of strong friendship.
A documentary film about him, entitled Ibycus: A Poem by John Heath-Stubbs, was made by the Chilean director Carlos Klein in 1997.