Background
McLeod was born and raised in a farming family near Feilding, in New Zealand"s North Island.
McLeod was born and raised in a farming family near Feilding, in New Zealand"s North Island.
McLeod was educated at Nelson College from 1946 to 1950, and then at the University of Otago, Dunedin, where he earned a Bachelor and then an Master of Arts in history, graduating in 1954. He then began theological studies and in 1958 joined the New Zealand Presbyterian church"s mission to Punjab, India. At Kharar, in Punjab, he learned the local languages (Hindi and Punjabi) and taught English at the Christian Boys secondary school.
Later, he completed a Doctor of Philosophy at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London in 1965.
In 1990 he was awarded a Doctor of Letters by the University of London, and he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand in 1999.
His work frequently was a source of controversy.