A graduate of Sussex University, he obtained dual honours in English Literature and Spanish.
As the 1st Baron Cloncurry, Lawless acknowledged this costly promotion by writing to the Viceroy: "If I have obtained any honours, they have cost me their full value".
In the Norman period, suffering the king's ill-will meant difficulties in obtaining grants, honours or petitions; Henry II had infamously expressed his fury and ill-will towards Thomas Becket; this ultimately resulted in Becket's death.
Simon came to England in 1229 and, helped by his cousin Ranulf, earl of Chester, the tenant of the confiscated estates, obtained the honour of Leicester and did homage to Henry III in 1231, though he was not formally styled earl of Leicester until April 1239.
These features culminated in Taipei 101 obtaining the honour of "the world's tallest green building" by LEED standards in July 2011.
He then went to Balliol College, Oxford, where he obtained first-class honours in classical honour moderations in 1898 and in literae humaniores in 1900.
There is a college tradition that students aim a champagne cork at the clock after finishing their final university examinations; hitting it is supposed to mean that the student will obtain a first class honours degree.
After reading history at Magdalen College, Oxford, where he obtained First Class Honours, he was elected a Fellow of All Souls College in 1989.
Brought up on a north-west London council estate, Rob went on to study geography at Bedford College, University of London, obtaining first class honours in 1971.
At 16 he went to Victoria College (subsequently the University of Stellenbosch), where he studied science and arts and obtained first-class honours in both.
