Terence Clark was born 19 June 1934, the son of Joseph Clark and Mary Clark. He was educated at Thomas Parmiter’s, London, and in 1960 married Lieselotte Rosa Marie Müller; they have two sons and one daughter.

While on his National Service with the RAF (1953-55), Clark was attached to the School of Slavonic Studies, Cambridge, and joined the Foreign Service in 1955. His postings included: Middle Eastern Centre for Arab Studies, (1956-57); Bahrain, (1957-58); Amman [Jordan], (1958-60); Casablanca [Morocco], (1961-62); Foreign Office, (1962-65); Assistant Political Agent, Dubai, (1965-68); Belgrade [Yugoslavia, later Serbia], (1969-71); Head of Chancery, Muscat [Masqat, Oman], (1972-73); Assistant Head of Middle East Department, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, (1974-76); Counsellor (Press and Information), Bonn [Germany], (1976-79); Chargé d’Affaires, Tripoli [Libya], (February-March 1981); Counsellor, Belgrade, (1979-82); Deputy Leader of the UK Delegation to the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe, Madrid [Spain], (1982-83); Head of Information Department, FCO, (1983-85); Ambassador to Iraq, (1985-89); Ambassador to Oman, (1990-94).

Clark's honours include: KBE 1990; CMG 1985; CVO 1978. He has published The Saluqi: coursing hound of the East (1995) and articles on Salukis and coursing in magazines.