British Agricultural Revolution
He was born in Barnsley, Yorkshire to a family with a Scottish roots, which Parker was proud of; he changed his first name to Alastair. He served in the Royal Navy during the Second World War and after the war's end he won a scholarship to Christ Church, Oxford. He studied modern history, for which he gained a First. For his doctoral thesis, Parker studied Coke of Norfolk and the British Agricultural Revolution. This was eventually published in 1975.