Feast was born in Birmingham to a school teacher and housewife, and was educated at the King Edward VI School in Lichfield, studying humanities but being redirected to scientific studies due to his 'inclination to sit and dream', which led to him calling himself an 'accidental chemist' [REF].
He initially planned to study mathematics at university, but changed his mind after an interview with Rudolf Peierls at the University of Birmingham, and enrolled at the University of Sheffield to study chemistry, graduating with a Bsc in 1960.