[2][3] He was educated at Christ's Hospital, then an all-boys private school in Horsham, Sussex.
[3] Having been awarded an exhibition, he studied classics at Keble College, Oxford.
[2][3] He then switched to history and graduated with a second class Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in 1931.
[2] Having attended an Officer Cadet Training Unit, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Royal Artillery on 7 September 1940.
[3] Bishop was a lecturer in medieval history at Balliol College, Oxford, from 1946 to 1947.