Career
He was a Senior Lecturer in the Geology Department of the University of Leicester, and also Associate Dean of Science. Ford has made a detailed study of Precambrian rocks and fossils, and was instrumental in the recognition of the Precambrian fossil Charnia masoni, discovered in Charnwood Forest by Roger Mason. He has written several popular introductions to Peak District geology, a definitive study of the local fluorite Blue John, as well as numerous cave guides.
He served as the editor of Transactions of the British Cave Research Association, renamed Cave Science (later Cave & Karst Science), from 1973 until 1993.
Ford was awarded the Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire in 1997 for services to geology and cave science.