[2] On the advice of his form master, Derrick Macnutt (a fellow Classicist, better known as the crossword compiler 'Ximenes'), he sat the entrance exam to read Classics at Trinity College, Cambridge in 1937, and was awarded a major scholarship.

[4] On the strength of his brief experience of Iceland and its language, he was posted to the island, now occupied by British forces, as an intelligence officer and winter warfare instructor.

[5] While awaiting demobilisation in 1945, Allen was tasked with organising the escort of sixteen German generals, including Hasso von Manteuffel, to London to be interrogated.

He submitted his Ph.D. thesis in 1948 under the title ‘Linguistic problems and their treatment in antiquity’, examined by John Brough of the School of Oriental & African Studies and Peter Noble of the University of Aberdeen.

[8] From 1955 until his retirement in 1982, Allen held the position of Professor of Comparative Philology at the University of Cambridge, where he worked closely with John Chadwick.

In 1995, Allen underwent a hip replacement, after which he required at-home care; after Aenea's death, he met Diana Stroud, one of his part-time carers.