Upon graduation from the University of Bristol in 1948, he joined Seismograph Service Ltd. (SSL) and spent five years in the Middle East and the West Indies as an observer on a seismic crew.
The Nigel Anstey Award[2] for Best Paper in "First Break", the flagship journal of the European Association of Geoscientists and Engineers, is named in his honor.
He is the grandfather of Tom Felton and played alongside him in the movie Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone as a teacher at Hogwarts.
In 1961, he co-invented (with W. E. Lerwill) the magnetic correlator, which made practical the Vibroseis method, which today is a standard seismic source for land acquisition.
Since 1975, when Anstey left Seiscom Delta to concentrate on teaching and consulting, he has written a number of books, monographs and papers.