Richard Swaby Platt was born in London in 1928. His father, J.G Platt was a printmaker and later principal of Hornsey School of Art. Richard Platt followed in his father’s footsteps and studied at the Royal College of Art (1950-53) under Robert Austin. After leaving college he exhibited at the Royal Academy (1949–1958), at the New English Art Club, with the London Group and at The Wilton Gallery. He had a one-man show at the Leicester Galleries in 1956 and exhibited in the British Art 1900-1955 show. From his pen and ink drawings he made exceptional lithographs of people at work or at leisure. He later moved towards abstraction. In the early 1960s he moved to Cornwall and instead of printmaking and painting he followed his other passion of music and had a very sucessful career as a musicologist and a specialist in music of the English 18th Century. He lived and worked in Falmouth. His work is held in many public collections.