His parents were Sir
Frederick Wolff Ogilvie,
director-general of the
BBC from 1938 to 1942, and Lady (Mary) Ogilvie (née Macaulay), principal of
St Anne's College, Oxford, from 1953 to 1966. He was educated at
Rugby School then studied Classics at
Oxford University (
Balliol College 1950–1954,
Merton College 1954–1955). Ogilvie became a Fellow of Balliol College in 1957 and from 1957 to 1970 tutored students. He was headmaster of
Tonbridge School from 1970 to 1975. From 1975 Ogilvie was professor of
Humanity (Latin) at the
University of St. Andrews. He is well known for his
commentary on the first five books of
Livy's
Ab urbe condita and his commentary on the
Agricola of
Tacitus. In 1979 he was elected a Fellow of the
Royal Society of Edinburgh. His proposers were
Norman Gash, J Steven Barrow,
Geoffrey Barrow and
Matthew Black. ==Family==