O'Rowe began writing at 24 "for something to do" after spending his youth acquiring an extensive knowledge of the bloodiest films he could find.
He was educated at Eton and at Hertford College, Oxford, where he acquired an extensive knowledge of the classics, to which he remained devoted for the rest of his life.
Though he remained faithful throughout his life to that school, of whose doctrines he had an unrivalled mastery, he also acquired an extensive knowledge of contemporary Islamic sources and disciplines: the Qurʾān (Islamic scripture), the Ḥadith (sayings attributed to the Prophet Muhammad), jurisprudence (fiqh), dogmatic theology (kalām), philosophy, and Sufi (Islamic mystical) theology.
Thanks to two trips he made to Germany during his years as a lawyer, Hamilton acquired an extensive knowledge of Kant and his immediate successors, little of which had been translated into English but which Hamilton was able to read in the original language.
A certain number of Christian humanist scholars became interested in Jewish mysticism, and several of them acquired a fairly extensive knowledge of it on the basis of authentic texts.
He has an extensive knowledge of fish and he knows where to get things on short notice.
He also has an extensive knowledge of music beyond the standard repertory.
Bloomfield, who has an extensive knowledge of botany and husbandry, started asking Boggs about his vegetables.
Fagunwa's imagery, humour, wordplay, and rhetoric reveal an extensive knowledge of classical Yoruba.
Mr. Hild might be the rare person who has an extensive knowledge of electronics recycling.
A gladiatorial arena of general knowledge where heroic figures do battle armed only with an extensive knowledge of the History of The East India Trading Company.
