[2] Yates served in the Foreign Office in the Middle East, working in military intelligence in the Suez Canal Zone.
On 1 November 1956, Yates interrupted on a point of order and said, "I have come to the conclusion that Her Majesty's Government has been involved in an international conspiracy".
[4] From 1969 to 1975 he was a senior schoolmaster at Brighton Grammar School, Melbourne teaching French & history (often attending classes as the only master wearing a bow-tie).
In 2003, at the age of 82, he earned a Doctorate in Political Science from the University of Melbourne following publication of his thesis on British policy during the Suez crisis.
[5] Yates then married Camilla Rosemary, daughter of Ernest and Eleonora Tennant, of Orford House, Ugley, near Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire and had four sons:[6] Tom, Peter, Oliver and Mark.