Richard Lawrence Grimsdale was born on 18 September 1929 in Australia, where his father, an English engineer, was working on construction of the suburban railway system for the Metropolitan-Vickers company. The family returned to England, where he was educated at Manchester Grammar, and then studied electrical engineering at Manchester University, where he earned his Bachelor of Science,[1] his Master of Science in 1951, writing a thesis on "Computing Machines - Design of Test Programmes",[2] and ultimately his Doctor of Philosophy, writing his thesis on the "Transistor Digital Computer" under the supervision of Frederic Calland Williams.[3]