[1] He attended (and became head boy at) Dover College, and went on Tonbridge School on a scholarship; it was there he first met Vikram Jayanti.
Amongst his peers there were comedians Griff Rhys Jones, Rory McGrath, Jimmy Mulville, and author Douglas Adams.
After later pursuing a freelance career, he worked on several comedy shows commissioned by Channel 4, including Who Dares Wins, and Spitting Image.
In 1990 Stroud directed three episodes of Roland Rivron's pioneering spoof fly-on-the-wall documentary series, Set Of Six.
Other sitcoms that he had contributed to include So Haunt Me, KYTV, Harry Enfield and Chums, Game On, Kiss Me Kate, and Chambers.