He was born in
Reading, United Kingdom. Son of Rev Frederick Grabham and Winifred Barry (Harrison) Steel. He was the eldest of four children. Steel was educated at
Great Yarmouth Grammar School and the Cambridge and County High School for Boys. He was a lecturer in Geography at the
University of Oxford from 1939 to 1956, serving in the
Naval Intelligence Division of the Admiralty from 1940 to 1945. He was associated with two
Oxford colleges: firstly at
St Peter's Hall as a lecturer from 1951 to 1956 and then Jesus College as a
Fellow from 1954 to 1956. He was then appointed John Rankin Professor of Geography at
Liverpool University in 1957 and held this post until 1974. He thereafter became Principal of the
University College of Swansea (1974–1982) and also served as Vice-Chancellor of the
University of Wales from 1979 to 1981. He was appointed an Honorary Fellow of Jesus College in 1982 and appointed
CBE in 1983. ==References==