he was educated at holy rosary convent, cradock, and matriculated in 1952. he spent six years at the university of cape town obtaining a ba in german and history (1955), completing his honours in german a year later and an ma in german, his thesis was on the silesia baroque drama of andreas gryphius and daniel caspar von lohenstein. having been awarded an alexander von humboldt foundation fellowship place at the university of tübingen he gained his phd in 1961 for a dissertation on style change in the dramatic work of gerhart hauptmann.