He received his MA in 1935, and moved on to Trinity College, Cambridge, completing his PhD dissertation on Islamic textiles under the supervision of Professor C.A. Storey. He won a scholarship to work at SOAS with Professor A. S. Tritton. In 1940, he was working in Aden, but with the Second World War in progress, he was commissioned into the Aden Government Guards, spending his time in the Subayhi country of southern Arabia.