In 1965 he was awarded an Open Styring Scholarship[citation needed] to read Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (PPE) at The Queen's College, Oxford.
In 2006 Kay accepted an invitation to emigrate to the United States as "an alien of extraordinary ability".
He lived in Pasadena, California, where, until 2013, he continued to write a weekly financial advice column for The Sunday Times of London, and now writes obituaries of British and American business figures for The Times of London.
He lives with Lynne Bateson, also a journalist, and has two adult sons, Andrew and Ben, and two grandchildren, Jackson and Indiana.
Kay was on the staffs of the London Evening Standard and the now-defunct London Evening News in the early years of his career, and has been freelancing, writing books and working for UK national newspapers since then.