[5] Because his father was Jewish, Skutsch saw the rise of the Nazi Party as a threat to himself, and so he left Germany for the United Kingdom sometime in 1934 or 1935.
[2][5] Having arrived in the United Kingdom, Skutsch secured a post at the University of St Andrews as a research assistant working on the compilation a dictionary of Latin.
[3] This was achieved through W. M. Lindsay, a professor at St Andrews who had had great respect for Skutsch's father.
[5] From 1972 to 1973 and again in 1981, he was Visiting Andrew Mellon Professor of Classics at the University of Pittsburgh.
She was the daughter of Sir Findlater Stewart, a senior civil servant.