Despite only being 14, two years younger than usual, he took his School Certificate in 1944, achieving the highest score in his class.
[1] After further strong academic performance in his Higher School Certificate, he was accepted into Balliol College, Oxford where he read jurisprudence and graduated in 1951.
He qualified as a solicitor in 1954, and in 1956 he began working as a legal adviser for the National Association of Local Government Officers (now part of Unison).
Around this time he attempted to become a judge, but his application was rejected due to the potential difficulties his blindness could cause (as he would be unable to read court documents or study witnesses, for example) and because it was felt appointing a blind judge would not leave the public confident he could perform his duties.
He is believed to be the first blind person to be appointed to judicial office in modern times,[3] and possibly the first since the 18th century.