In 1963, he went up to Emmanuel College, Cambridge to read modern and mediaeval languages (French and Spanish); in 1966, he graduated with a First.

Other offices he took on were: various college posts; 1989–1997, vice-president of the Association of University Professors and Heads of French; 1990–1992, president of the Society for French Studies; 1994–1996, member of the executive of the University Council for Modern Languages; and 2000–2002, chairman of the (newly formed) School of Arts and Humanities at Cambridge.

[5] In 2011, he retired, and was presented by his colleagues with a volume in his honour containing contributions by leading scholars from the United Kingdom, France and North America.

[6] He increasingly spent his days at the house in Hackleton, Northamptonshire he shared with his partner Angus Bowie, classicist, of The Queen's College, Oxford; who delivered the eulogy at his funeral in Caius Chapel on 4 May 2018.

[1] In 2006, he was promoted to Commandeur (Commander): this is the highest rank of the order and he was the first British academic under retirement age to achieve it.