 He spent two years in the RAF (1950–52), and worked as a science journalist and writer until 1957, when he began a B.A.course in Psychology at University College, London, graduating with honours in 1960.After a summer fellowship at Duke University in the United States, where he first met his American wife, Nancy Fullmer, he took up a Research Assistant post in the Physics Laboratory, University of Reading, working on eye movements under Professor R. W. Ditchburn.