Background
He was born in London to a family of Jewish immigrants escaping from the Russian empire.
He was born in London to a family of Jewish immigrants escaping from the Russian empire.
He wrote his Doctor of Philosophy thesis at Oxford University, his topic being the Jewish Labour Bund. Having completed his doctorate in 1960, he took up an academic career at Oxford where he eventually became the director of the Russian centre at Street Antony"s College.
After college and national service, he took the Russian course at the Joint Services School for Linguists, in Cambridge and Bodmin, Cornwall. Afterwards, he went on to study Russian and Serbo-Croat at Nottingham University, gaining a first-class degree. He retired in 1998. In addition to numerous academic works, he also translated books by Anatoli Rybakov (Children of the Arbat) and Dmitri Volkogonov.
Another son David Shukman is a science journalist.