Russell was born in
Hammerton,
West Riding of Yorkshire, England, and grew up in
Loughton,
Essex. He was educated at
Chigwell School, and later at
St John's College, Cambridge, where he read classics and geography, graduating in 1940 with an
ordinary degree. He learnt Urdu while serving in
India on attachment to the Indian Army during
World War II, achieving "considerable fluency at the level of everyday communication with my
sepoys." During the war he had "no opportunity of making the acquaintance of Urdu literature", but following demobilisation he was awarded a scholarship to study at the
School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS),
University of London, where he took a degree in Urdu (with Sanskrit as a subsidiary subject) in 1949. For much of his life Russell was a member of the
Communist Party of Great Britain. He later explained his commitment as "want[ing] to meet the needs of the people whom the communist movement is supposed to exist to serve." Russell was awarded the
Sitara-e-Imtiaz in recognition of his services to Urdu language and literature by the
Government of Pakistan.
Loughton Town Council installed a
blue plaque to Russell at his boyhood home on 6 Queen's Road in that town, which was inaugurated with a reception given by the present owners for family, friends and colleagues on 15 July 2013. ==Books==