As a young man, his private tutor was Eric Blair (the writer George Orwell).
He became a part-time lecturer at Birkbeck College, University of London, where he also studied philosophy and psychology, receiving his PhD in 1949.
Under his guidance the Institute grew fast and considerably influenced the development of the philosophy of education in England.
Thus his research was in the areas motivation, emotions, personality as well as social behaviour and the relationship between reason and longing.
The influence resulted from his examination of the concept of education in the sense of analytic philosophy, a central tool being term analysis.