After his father was shot dead when Gorman was only four years old, he returned with his mother and her staff to her family estate in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland, where he was brought up.
Birmingham, at that time, was a leading centre for theoretical research, employing professors including Frank Hahn, and Maurice McManus.
It was during this period that what is now called Gorman polar form was rigorously introduced in an article entitled, "On a class of preference fields," published in the journal Metroeconomica, in August 1961.
He also spent some time in the United States as a visiting fellow, when he was engaged in research at the Iowa, Johns Hopkins, the North Carolina, and at Stanford.
After retirement, he continued to live in Oxford, although he spent his summers in County Cork, until in his last years illness impaired his mobility.