Farquharson diagnosed himself as suffering from bipolar disorder (manic depression), and episodes of mania made it difficult for him to obtain a permanent university position and also resulted in him losing commercial employment.

[2] The Dummett–Farquharson conjecture was proved by Allan Gibbard,[6] a philosopher and former student of Kenneth J. Arrow and John Rawls, and by Mark Satterthwaite,[7] an economist.

After the establishment of the Farquarson-Dummett conjecture by Gibbard and Sattherthwaite, Michael Dummett contributed three proofs of the Gibbard–Satterthwaite theorem in his monograph on voting.

[8] In the field of political game theory, Farquharson's main contribution was his exposition of the Condorcet paradox regarding the sincerity of voters.

The problem was initially raised by Pliny the Younger and then picked up again in the political pamphlets of Reverend Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (Lewis Carroll), who was a significant influence on Farquharson.

The main reason given for the delay in publication is that Farquharson insisted that the logical choice diagrams be printed in colour, which they eventually were, in black, white and red.

On the evening before an election meeting was held to discuss Farquharson's admission as a Fellow, the Warden of the college received a telephone call, which started with the words: "Do you have a pen and paper?"

His friend Guy Legge, who knew him from his time in Horton Hospital, thought Robin was an alcoholic and blames his wild mood swings on his dependency.

Many people see the book as a slightly forced and therefore somewhat inauthentic attempt to slum it with the lower classes in that Robin is so often bailed out by either good fortune, the kindness of strangers or old friends.

It is much easier to step into a life of destitution like a puddle and to briskly leave it if the water becomes too cold knowing that there is money behind you and lots of people who are prepared to help you, for a short while at least.

Many sections of the book simply list the areas of London Farquharson has walked through, including the names of streets and buildings he passes, interspersed with events and acquaintances he makes along the way.

It is the flux of his mental state and the variety of situations he encounters that make the book an interesting and vibrant account of London in the late 1960s.

[13] Towards the end of his life, Farquharson spent much of his time in "open university" squat communities, a period during which he met artists and thinkers, including the poet Aidan Andrew Dun and the psychiatrist R. D. Laing.

Farquharson died as the result of a fire at a house in Platt Street, Somers Town, London, in April 1973, down the road from St Pancras Old Church.