He studied at the Corpus Christi College in Oxford where he received a BA degree in Modern History in 1966. He also attended the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University as a Kennedy Scholar.
He began his career as a reporter on the Newcastle Journal in 1966. In 1970, he became the world trade editor at the Financial Times where he remained until he was elected to the European Parliament. Between July 1979 and July 1989 he was a member of the European Parliament. During that period he was member of the European Democratic Group, Chair of the Committee on Agriculture, Vice-Chair of the Committee on Budgets, member of the Committee on Agriculture, member of the Committee on Youth, Culture, Education, Information and Sport, member of the Delegation for relations with the Maghreb countries, member of the Committee on Budgets.
In January 2013, Curry was appointed Editor-in-Chief of The Parliamentary Review.