Richard Holt read Modern History at St John's College, University of Oxford. He was a lecturer in Modern History at Stirling University from 1974 to 1990, Senior Research Fellow at the University of Leuven from 1991 to 1993, and Research Professor at the International Centre for Sports History and Culture at De Montfort University from 1995 to 2013. At De Montfort Holt co-directed an International Masters in the Humanities, Law, and Management of Sport from 1996, and was Centre Director from 2008 and 2013. He has supervised and examined doctoral students in Britain and France, and has been a consultant editor for the ODNB, the NPG, and the BBC.