Philipps was the son of the Reverend John Erasmus Philipps ( b Haverfordwest 1863 - 1923 ) Vicar of Enstone, Oxfordshire, and Margaret Louisa Everard Ffolkes ( 1866–1954). He married pianist Lubka Kolessa of Ukrainian origin, daughter of famous Ukrainian professor, on 13 March 1939 in Prague, on the eve of the occupation.
University of Durham.
From Abingdon School(1899–1904) and Marlborough College (1904-1906) he entered Durham University, becoming editor of The Sphinx and president of the union. Joining the Rifle Brigade (1912), Philipps transferred as Captain to the South African Intelligence Department. He joined the Arab Bureau in Cairo (1918) and the British Relief Commission to south Russia (1921).
He was The Times correspondent in the Greeco-Turkish war (1922) and a foreign news correspondent (1936-1939).
The Times Marriage Notices.
He served as a member of United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (1944-1945), and travelled on foot from east to west across Equatorial Africa.
