Master of Clare College, Cambridge, 2003 - 2014
Born on 6 March 1947, and attended Cotham Grammar School in Bristol. He studied History at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, B.A. in 1968 and M.A. in 1971.
1974 - Ph.D. in American Studies from the University of Hull.
1999 - Hull awarded him an honorary D. Litt.
1971 - 1991 lecturer in the History Department of Newcastle University
1988 - 2002 and 2005 - 2008 - served on the Cambridge University Council
1992 - moved to the University of Cambridge, having been appointed Paul Mellon Professor of American History
2001 - 2002 - chaired its audit committee
Since 2004 he has been the chairman of Cambridge Assessment
2014 - he retired from Cambridge and took up a post as Professor of American History at Northumbria University in Newcastle upon Tyne