From 1955-60 he was a member of the scientific staff of the Microbiological Research Establishment, now part of the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (or 'dstl' for short) based at Porton Down, near Salisbury, Wiltshire, and usually simply referred to as 'Porton Down'.
He was a member and later chairman of the World Health Organisation's steering committee for Polysaccharide encapsulated bacteria from 1984-91.