The son of an academic lawyer, he served with distinction during the Second World War, before joining the Chancery bar.

From 1941 to 1945, he served in the 12th Battalion Royal Tank Regiment, and was mentioned in dispatches during his service in Italy.

He was a leading contender to succeed Lord Denning as Master of the Rolls on his retirement in 1982, but the post went to Sir John Donaldson instead.

He joined the minority in the House of Lords judgment in the Spycatcher case in 1987, in favour of lifting the ban on its publication.

After her death in 1985, he married secondly Wendy Anne Lloyd Jones (née Harrison) in 1987.