He graduated in sociology at The Polytechnic, Regent Street, (now the University of Westminster) where he helped to establish its Students' Union and became its first elected President in 1966. He continued his studies at Westcott House and Fitzwilliam College in the University of Cambridge. His father, Ivor Spencer-Thomas, held the feudal barony of Buquhollie and Freswick in Caithness, Scotland.