 He lived in Japan until he was eight and then returned to England and was educated at St John's School, Leatherhead.He studied Modern Languages at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, where he took great interest in sport, playing cricket and rugby – he was scrum half in the college rugby team where he played alongside his friend Iain Macleod, the future Conservative Chancellor.After graduating he worked in Halifax, Yorkshire, where he met his first wife Betty Hoyle.