Excell was born in June 1948. He earned a
Bachelor of Science in Engineering Science (electrical option) in 1970 from the
University of Reading. From 1970 to 1971, he was a research student in electronics at the Department of Physics, University of Ife, now
Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-
Ifẹ,
Nigeria, on a
Government of the United Kingdom funded scheme called 'Study and Serve'. He later returned to the
United Kingdom and he earned a
Doctor of Philosophy in Electrical and Electronic Engineering at the
University of Bradford in 1980. He worked at
University of Bradford from 1971 to 2007, where he was, progressively, an Experimental Officer, Research Fellow, Lecturer, Senior Lecturer,
Reader (academic rank) and ultimately a full
Professor of applied electromagnetics. In 2007, he joined the North-East Wales Institute of Higher Education in Wrexham (which rapidly became
Wrexham Glyndŵr University). Here he held various roles including the Head of the School of Computing and Communications Technology, Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Science, and Technology, and Deputy Vice-chancellor until 2015, when he retired. He also became a Fellow of the
Learned Society of Wales in 2020. ==Death==