Born on 19 July 1914 at
Tunbridge Wells, Desborough's father was
Latvian and his mother British. He was schooled in
France and
Switzerland before attending
St Augustine's in
Ramsgate and
Downside School. He then studied
classics at
New College, Oxford, from 1932, graduating in the second class in 1936. He completed the
BLitt at Oxford under Sir
John Myres's supervision. In 1937, he was awarded the Macmillan Studentship by the
British School at Athens; his research there allowed him to complete his BLitt in 1939, taking the
Charles Oldham Prize; the degree was awarded in 1940. Desborough served in the
Second World War in the
infantry and then the
Royal Artillery, rising to the rank of
Captain. From 1944 until he was
demobilised in 1946, he served in
Greece. He was then a member of the
British Council in the country and in 1947 he became assistant director of the British School at Athens. The next year, he returned to England to take up an assistant
lectureship at the
University of Manchester. He was subsequently promoted to a lectureship, senior lectureship and, in 1967, a
readership. He left Manchester in 1968 to take up a
senior research fellowship in ancient history at New College, Oxford. ==Legacy==