He was Head Boy in his final year and was awarded a State Scholarship to study Mechanical Sciences at Trinity Hall, Cambridge.
During two years National Service in the Royal Artillery, he played cricket at Western Command level.
During his time at UMIST he was Head of the Department of Civil and Structural Engineering for 12 of his 25-year period and he was Vice Principal for External Affairs from 1981 to 1983.
His research at UMIST took up again the subject of fracture mechanics applied to welded structures and he has published over 200 papers in the technical literature.
Over 200 technical research publications in the general subject area of structural integrity and fracture mechanics.