He graduated from the University of Manchester in 1951, and lived in France for a year teaching English. He also travelled extensively in Greece and Turkey during the 1960s, lecturing at the University of Athens and the University of Istanbul. His novels about fin-de-siecle Ottoman Empire, "The Rage of the Vulture" and "Pascali's Island", were inspired by these experiences. He published his first novel in 1966, his second novel, "The Greeks Have a Word For It", was an outgrowth of his teaching experience in Athens.