Pollard was born in
South Shields,
County Durham, on 23 November 1944. After graduating from
South Shields Grammar-Technical School for Boys, he studied history at
Trinity Hall, Cambridge, where he took his
B.A. Degree in 1966 and
M.A. in 1970. Pollard completed his
PhD at the
University of Reading, with a
Doctoral thesis on
fascism –
From the Conciliazione to the Riconciliazione: The Church and the Fascist Regime in Italy, 1929 to 1932. In 1990, he received the title of Professor of Modern European History at
Anglia Polytechnic University (APU). He took early retirement from APU in 2003, but continues to teach undergraduate and graduate students as a Supervisor in the Faculty of History of the University of Cambridge. In 2019, he was awarded the degree of Doctor of Letters (Litt.D.) by the University of Cambridge. ==Notable publications==