Brighouse was born in Leicestershire on 15 January 1940. He was brought up there and in
East Anglia, and was educated at
Loughborough Grammar School,
Lowestoft County Grammar School and
St Catherine's College, Oxford. Brighouse took his PGCE at the Oxford University Department of Education in 1961. He began his career as a schoolteacher, becoming a deputy head in a South Wales secondary modern school in 1966. In the early 1970s he worked for
Buckinghamshire County Council's education department, and worked with Geoff Cooksey on plans for
Stantonbury Campus, the first secondary school of
Milton Keynes. Later he was Professor of Education at
Keele University (1989–1993), and Chief Education Officer in both Oxfordshire (1978–1989) and Birmingham Local Authorities. Whilst he was at Birmingham, he was described by
Conservative Education Secretary John Patten as a "madman ... wandering the streets, frightening the children". Brighouse sued and won substantial damages, which he donated to charity. He used some of it to set up the University of the First Age, to encourage out of hours activities to enrich school children's learning. In May 1997 Brighouse was awarded an
honorary degree from the
Open University as Doctor of the University. Brighouse was the Schools Commissioner for London between 2002 and 2007, where he led the London Challenge. Brighouse was a Non-Executive Director of
RM plc the UK educational IT company. Brighouse was
knighted in the
2009 New Year Honours. ==Personal life==