A Local Habitation is the first volume of Hoggart's autobiography, describing his childhood in a working class milieu in Leeds, his time at grammar school, his student days at Leeds University and his travels through Nazi Germany before World War Two. Richard Hoggart taught for many years at the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies at Birmingham University and he worked with UNESCO in Paris for four years. His book The Uses of Literacy, published over 30 years ago, established his reputation as a sensitive and well informed observer of English working class life. His most recent book, written with Douglas Johnson, was An Idea of Europe.