sentences:  His main research interests are on the relations between the Mongols and the Latin West between 1220 and 1410, and he has written extensively on the topic, exploring the concepts of medieval Europe, the Crusades, medieval Russia and the Mongols, especially the clash of cultures, and the interconnectedness of legends such as that of Prester John.Graduating from St John's College, Cambridge in 1971, he was awarded a PhD from Cambridge in 1977 for the thesis ‘The Mongols and India, 1221-1351’.In 1979 he was appointed Lecturer in History at Keele University, becoming a senior lecturer in 1991.