Government official, intelligence officer, and (after his retirement) a prolific author, with a keen interest in archaeology.
Educated at Haileybury College, Corpus Christi at Cambridge (BA 1923, MA 1931; Hon. Fellow 1981) and Harvard. Joined the Palestine Government Education Service, 1927; Administrative Service, 1930, where he became a Press Officer the following year; Asst District Commissioner, Galilee 1934; Asst Secretary Malta, 1934 (pioneered Pasteurization); Political Officer, Aden Protectorate 1937; Arabic Programme Organiser, BBC 1938; Information Officer, Aden 1939; Public Relations Attache at the British Embassy in Baghdad, 1941; Oriental Counsellor, 1944; Colonial Secretary, Barbados 1947-51; seconded as Principal Adviser (Interior), Cyrenaica, 1950-51; retired in 1951 but was appointed Adviser, UK delegation to UN Assembly, Paris, November 1951, and Assistant to the Bishop in Jerusalem for Refugee work, 1952. Subsequently designed and supervised Refugee model villages.
In 1947 he married Freya Stark (q.v.), although this was dissolved in 1952. He was awarded the Coronation Medal, 1937; OBE, 1944; Iraq Coronation Medal, 1953; Knight of St John, 1956; FSA, 1957; FRSA. Clubs: Travellers'; Casino (1852), Malta; Savannah, Bridgetown; Phoenix-SK, Harvard.
During his postings he designed stamps for Malta (1936), Aden Protectorate (1938), Barbados (1949), Libya (1951), and currency notes for the West Indies Federation (1949) and Libya (1951).
Publications: 'The One Remains', 1954; 'Herod the Great', 1956; 'The Later Herods', 1958; 'Hadrian', 1960; 'Caesars and Saints', 1962; 'The Pilgrim's Companion in Jerusalem and Bethlehem', 1964; 'The Pilgrim's Companion in Roman Rome', 1964; 'The Pilgrim's Companion in Athens', 1964; 'Jerusalem', 1965; 'The End of the Roman World', 1966; 'The Death of the Roman Republic: from 146 BC to the birth of the Roman Empire', 1969; 'Roman Mythology', 1968, rev. edn 1983; and contributor to various edited works, encyclopaedias and academic journals, including 'Antiquity'.
He had a keen amateur interest in archaeology, and discovered the ancient site of Imadiya in the Aden Protectorate (cf. his article, "'Im'adiya and Beihan, Aden Protectorate", 'Antiquity' 13 (1939), pp.133-37). He deposited a collection of potsherds in September 1938, most of which are of Bronze Age type and probably derive from the site of Subr. He also recovered South Arabian inscriptions and sculptures from the Wadi Beihan. In 1951, near the end of his posting to Cyrenaica he discovered the ancient city-site of Aziris.
'Who Was Who, 1981-1990', p. 592.
Obituaries: 'The Times', 15th May 1989; 'The Independent', 16th May 1989.