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The son of a Coal Miner , he grew up in London , eventually being awarded a Scholarship to read mathematics at Pembroke College, Cambridge in 1956 1,4 . On Graduating in 1960, he began work on his PhD under the supervision of Peter Whittle , studying Queuing Theory , Markov Chains and Regenerative Phenomena . A year later, Whittle left Cambridge for the University Of Manchester , and, rather than follow him there, Kingman moved instead to Oxford where he resumed his work under David Kendall . After another year, Kendall was appointed to a professorship at Cambridge and so Kingman returned to the University. He returned, however, as a member of the teaching staff (and a Fellow of Pembroke College) and never completed his PhD 4 . He married his wife, Valerie Cromwell, with whom he has two children in 1964 1 and shortly after, in 1965, took up the post of Reader at the University Of Sussex where she was teaching 1,3,4 . Just one year later, in 1966, he was elected Professor of Mathematics and Statistics 1,3 . He held this post until 1969, when he moved to Oxford as Professor of Mathematics 1,2,3,4 , a position he held until 1985. He has said of this appointment: "Statistics in Oxford in 1969 was frankly a mess. There was no professor of statistics, the only chair having been abolished some years before... Bartlett and I conspired to persuade Oxford to take statistics seriously." The London Mathematical Society awarded Kingman its Berwick Prize in 1967 5 . In 1971, Kingman was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society 6 , later receiving its Royal Medal in 1983 ''" {Link without Title} n recognition of his distinguished researches on queuing theory, on regenerative phenomena, and on mathematical genetics"'' 7 . He was also awarded the Guy Medal in silver by the Royal Statistical Society in 1981. During his time at Oxford, as well as holding a Fellowship at St. Anne's College from 1978 to 1985, Kingman also chaired the Science and Engineering Research Council (now the EPSRC ) from 1981 to 1985 1,2,3,4 , was vice-president of the Institute Of Statisticians from 1978 until 1992 and held visiting appointments at the University Of Western Australia (1974) and the Australian National University (1978) 1 . In 1985, Kingman was s received pay-rises of about 3%. Whilst at Bristol, he also served in a number of other capacities. In the academic field, he was president of the Royal Statistical Society 9 from 1987 to 1989 and president of the London Mathematical Society from 1990 to 1992 10 . In public service, he was a member of the board of the British Council between 1986 and 1991 and was on the Board of the British Technology Group from 1986 until after it was privatised in 1992 1,2,3 . He also held directorships at a number of industrial companies, including IBM from 1985 to 1995 and SmithKline Beecham from 1986 to 1989 1,2,3 . In 1987/88, Kingman chaired the Committee Of Inquiry into the teaching of the English Language 11 . In 2000, the of MP s that the 2011 UK Census could be conducted using new technology rather than the traditional headcount, or even not conducted at all 13 . Sir John holds Honorary Degree s from the universities of Sussex, Southampton , Bristol, the West Of England , and Queen's, Ontario 1 . BIBLIOGRAPHY REFERENCES # Biography compiled by the University of St. Andrews . # Citation from Brunel University on the award of an honorary doctorate . # Biography at the Isaac Newton Institute, Cambridge . # Interview for the European Mathematical Society Newsletter (PDF) . # List of London Mathematical Society Berwick Prize winners . # List of Fellows of the Royal Society, with dates of election (PDF) . # Royal Society Royal Medal citation . # List of former Vice-Chancellors of Bristol University . # List of past presidents of the Royal Statistical Society # List of past presidents of the London Mathematical Society . #6 # HM Treasury press release announcing appointment as Chairman of the Statistics Commission . # Minutes of Treasury Select Committee evidence where Kingman suggests there may not be a need for a census in 2011 . __NOTOC__
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