Biography
I
was born in war-time London. My father and mother worked for the BBC but
during the war my father was an RAF pilot and he was killed soon after my
birth. My childhood was largely spent in and around London where I was also
educated. In 1964 I began my research career at the School of Oriental and
African Studies where I worked under the pioneer historian of Africa, Roland
Oliver. SOAS appointed me to teach in its history department in 1969. I
was to work there until early retirement in 2003. During that time I served
as Chairman of the University of London's Centre for African Studies and
as SOAS' Dean of Postgraduate Studies and was promoted to a chair in modern
African history in 1994. London life was episodically interrupted by a series
of long research trips to Ghana which I had become excited by as an exchange
student in the University of Ghana, Legon in 1963. And a variety of fellowships
took me for long attachments to universities in Cape Town, Johannesburg,
Harvard and Princeton as well as for shorter periods to Bordeaux, Lesotho
and Toronto. I have been married to the writer Frances
Thomas for many years and since I retired we have divided our time between
London and rural mid-Wales. That is reflected in my current appointments
as Emeritus professor and professorial research associate at SOAS and as
honorary professor in history at Aberystwyth University.
I have served on the Council of the Royal Historical Society, most recently
as one of its vice-presidents. In 2017 I was elected a Fellow of the Learned
Society of Wales. Much of my leisure time is spent enjoying music and trying to
make music as a choral singer (a growly second bass).
For more on Richard Rathbone, see the interview with him on the University of Cambridge website.