Unlike his elder sister Pat and younger brother John, Major-Ball failed his 11 plus exam and went to Stoneleigh East Secondary Modern School.

After World War II, Major-Ball did National Service with the Royal Army Medical Corps in Germany.

[2] [3] After being demobilised, Major-Ball tried, without success, to save his ailing father's business, Major's Garden Ornaments, which was finally taken over by a competitor in 1962.

[2][5] Terry Major-Ball first came to the spotlight in November 1990, when his brother John became Prime Minister after the Conservative leadership election.

In 1993, after noting that he had only been abroad once, to Germany while on National Service, and had never stayed in a hotel, The Evening Standard arranged for him to fly first-class to New York City, where he met Liza Minnelli.

[2] Major-Ball also made a BBC2 travel programme called A Postcard to my Brother, where he visited France, Germany and Poland.