Brand was born in Preston, England on 1 June 1943. He went to Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School for Boys, and was a graduate of The Queen's College, Oxford, and a 1968–1970 Fellow of Nuffield College, Oxford. He was a Lecturer at University of Edinburgh, from 1970 to 1997, teaching in personality, psychopathology and philosophical problems and researching in factorial psychology. In the 1980s he served on the United Kingdom's Council for National Academic Awards. His 1996 book "The g Factor" garnered considerable media attention with its claim that inherited general intelligence was like psychological money. Brand wrote that general intelligence is an important factor in determining life outcomes for those with lower scores. He attributed socio-economic differences among people of African descent to differences in general intelligence.