中文

• 西元1925年9月23日
出生於倫敦
• 西元1939年　14歲
第二次世界大戰（歐洲戰場）爆發，英、法向德宣戰。
• 西元1942～1945年　17～20歲
在伊斯伍郡中學（Isleworth County School）完成學業後，獲得前往劍橋大學聖凱薩琳學院（St. Catharine’s College）攻讀地理學的國家獎學金。因二次大戰爆發，以海軍預官身分至利物浦大學攻讀中古史和地理學。 二次大戰期間接受六個月的日語訓練，在英國皇家海軍服役。曾在英國主要密碼與情報分析中心布勒特徹里園（Bletchley Park，或稱「X站」）服務。

• 西元1946年　21歲
在倫敦亞非學院研習現代中文。
• 西元1947年　22歲
轉學劍橋大學接受Gustav Haloun指導準備東方研究 學士優等學位考試。
• 西元1949年　24歲
獲得劍橋大學學士學位。
• 西元1950年　25歲
獲得東方語言研究葛隆獎（E. G. Growne Prize in Oriental Languages），入選為聖凱薩琳學院獎學金學生。 擔任英國財政部（H. M. Treasury）資助的史考伯學者（Scarbrough Scholar），直到1954年。
• 西元1951年　26歲
獲得劍橋大學碩士學位，接著開始攻讀博士學位。
• 西元1953年　28歲
至東京大學東洋文化研究所擔任研究學者（1953~1954）。 在東京大學時，曾向幾位重要的學者求教，包括著名的法制史家仁井田陞。
• 西元1954年　29歲
在倫敦大學亞非學院擔任遠東史講師，直到1956年。
• 西元1955年　30歲
劍橋大學授予博士學位。
• 西元1956年　31歲
與日籍市川梅子女士（Umeko Ichikawa）結婚。 回到劍橋擔任古典中文講師，直到1960年。
• 西元1960年　35歲
擔任倫敦大學亞非學院遠東學系系主任及漢學教授，直到1968年。<
• 西元1962年　37歲
與芮沃壽（Arthur F. Wright）教授共同主編Confucian Personalities《儒家人物》，由史丹福大學出版。
• 西元1963年　38歲
《唐代財政制度》由英國劍橋大學出版社出版。
• 西元1964~1968年　39~43歲
擔任《亞非學院集刊》主編。
• 西元1966年　41歲
開始構思全套四卷本的《劍橋中國史》計畫。
• 西元1967年　42歲
獲選為英國國家學術院院士。
• 西元1968年　43歲
擔任劍橋大學漢學教授以及聖凱薩琳學院研究員，直到1980年。 與《劍橋中國史》另一位主編、哈佛大學的費正清（John King Fairbank, 1907–1991）教授共同將劍橋中國史計畫擴大為全套六卷本。 與韓南（Patrick Hannan）一同接任《劍橋中華文史叢刊》主編，這個工作持續多年。
• 西元1973年　48歲
擔任美國普林斯頓大學客座教授，同時在普林斯頓高等研究所 （Institute for Advanced Study）研究訪問，直到1974年。 與芮沃壽（Arthur F. Wright）教授共同主編Perspectives on the T'ang 《唐代概觀》，由耶魯大學出版。
• 西元1974年　49歲
擔任《泰晤士報中國地圖集》主筆，由倫敦Times Books出版。
• 西元1976年　51歲
《中國專家政治的誕生：唐代的官僚與貢舉》由倫敦China Society出版。
• 西元1977年　52歲
與費正清（John King Fairbank）教授共同擔任《劍橋中國史》總編輯，直到2006年。
• 西元1978年　53歲
擔任美國普林斯頓大學客座教授，直到1979年。
• 西元1979年　54歲
主編《劍橋中國史》第三卷《隋唐分冊，589-906》（第一部）。
• 西元1980年　55歲
成為美國普林斯頓大學首任胡應湘漢學講座教授。 劍橋大學出版社決定將《劍橋中國史》規劃成涵蓋帝制時期與二十世紀中國史的十五卷本。
• 西元1983年　58歲
《中國中古時期的印刷與出版》由紐約Frederic C. Beil出版。
• 西元1986年　61歲
與魯惟一教授共同主編《劍橋中國史》第一卷《秦漢帝國，221 BC-AD 220》。
• 西元1988年　63歲
與牟復禮（Frederick W. Mote）教授共同主編《劍橋中國史》第七卷《明代分冊，1368-1644》（第一部）。 復刊《泰東》（Asia Major）(Third Series)並擔任主編。該刊因杜氏任教美國普林斯頓大學，故隨之遷美。按Asia Major在二次大戰前與法國的T'oung Pao同為歐洲最重要的兩大漢學學報，杜氏主編後，該刊 內容更為多姿多彩。1997年該刊編輯部轉到台灣中央研究院歷史語言研究所，主編制改為編委制，仍由杜氏擔任首席編委。
• 西元1991年　66歲
擔任第二版《劍橋中國百科全書》編輯顧問，由劍橋大學出版社出版。
• 西元1992年　67歲
1992 (67 years old) 《唐代官修史學》收入《劍橋中華文史叢刊》，由劍橋大學出版社出版。
• 西元1993年　68歲
夫人市川梅子逝世。
• 西元1994年　69歲
自美國普林斯頓大學榮退。 自1994年退休至2006年謝世之前，每年都被普林斯頓大學 董事會選為東亞研究系的資深學者。 與傅海波（Herbert Franke）教授共同主編《劍橋中國史》 第六卷《異族政權與邊境國家，907-1368》。
• 西元1996年　71歲
受邀擔任中央研究院歷史語言研究所「傅斯年漢學講座」，發表三場演講： 11月16日第一場講題：《劍橋中國史》之編纂 11月23日第二場講題：遼對唐代傳統的認識 11月27日第三場講題：唐代的史官
• 西元1997年　72歲
傅斯年漢學講座的三篇講稿，以《史家、讀者與時間歷程》 為名結集成書，由中央研究院歷史語言研究所出版。
• 西元1998年　73歲
與牟復禮（Frederick W. Mote）教授共同主編《劍橋中國史》 第八卷《明代，1368-1644》（第二部）。
• 西元2006年2月24日與世長辭，享年80歲。

英文

• 23 September 1925 Professor Denis Crispin Twitchett was born in London on 23 September 1925.
• 1939 (14 years old)
The Second World War broke out in Europe when Britain and France declared war on Germany.
• 1942 – 1945 (between 17 and 20 years of age)
Twitchett was educated at Isleworth County School, and won a state scholarship to read Geography at St Catharine's College, Cambridge. With the intervention of World War II, Twitchett attended Liverpool University in 1942 – 1943 as a naval cadet, reading Medieval History and Geography. During World War II, Twitchett received six months of Japanese language training and served in the Royal Navy. He served at Bletchley Park, also called “Station X,”which was the United Kingdom's main wartime crypto-analytical and intelligence centre.
• 1946 (21 years old)
Twitchett studied Modern Chinese at the University of London's School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in 1946.
• 1947 (22 years old)
Twitchett moved to Cambridge to read for the Oriental Studies Tripos under Professor Gustav Haloun.
• 1949 (24 years old)
Twitchett graduated from Cambridge with a BA in 1949.
• 1950 (25 years old)
Twitchett was awarded the E. G. Growne Prize in Oriental Languages and was elected a Scholar of St Catharine's College, Cambridge. From 1950 until 1954, Twitchett was a Scarbrough Scholar under the H. M. Treasury.
• 1951 (26 years old)
Twitchett earned his MA at Cambridge in 1951 and then commenced work on his Ph.D.
• 1953 (28 years old)
Twitchett worked as a Research Scholar at Tokyo University's Tōyōbunka Kenkyūjo during the 1953-1954 academic year. At Tokyo University, Twitchett studied with several important scholars, including Niida Noboru仁井田陞, an eminent legal historian.
• 1954 (29 years old)
Twitchett was Lecturer in Far Eastern History at SOAS from 1954-1956.
• 1955 (30 years old)
In 1955, Cambridge awarded Twitchett the Ph.D.
• 1956 (31 years old)
Twitchett married Umeko Ichikawa in 1956. Twitchett returned to Cambridge University in 1956 as Lecturer in Classical Chinese, a position he held until 1960.
• 1960 (35 years old)
Twitchett accepted the offer for the position as Professor of Chinese and Head of Department of the Far East at the SOAS, a position which he held from 1960 to 1968.
• 1962 (37 years old)
Together with Professor Arthur F. Wright, Twitchett edited a book entitled Confucian Personalities, published by Stanford University Press in 1962.
• 1963 (38 years old)
Twitchett's book Financial Administration under the T'ang Dynasty was published by Cambridge University Press in 1963. (University of Cambridge Oriental Publications, no. 8)
• 1964 – 1968 (between 39 and 43 years of age)
Twitchett was editor of the Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies from 1964 through 1968.
• 1966 (41 years old)
Twitchett planned the ambitiously comprehensive Cambridge History of China project in 1966. He had originally conceived it as a four-volume set.
• 1967 (42 years old)
Twitchett was elected Fellow of the British Academy (FBA) in 1967.
• 1968 (43 years old)
Twitchett was Professor of Chinese and Professorial Fellow of St. Catharine' s College, University of Cambridge from 1968 to 1980.Together with another editor of the Cambridge History of China, Harvard University's Professor John King Fairbank (1907–1991),Twitchett made plans to expand the Cambridge History of China into a six-volume set.Twitchett became Editor of the Cambridge Studies in Chinese History, Literature and Institutions, a position he shared with Patrick Hannan andretained for most of the rest of his life.
• 1973 (48 years old)
Twitchett was a Visiting Professor at Princeton University and the Institute for Advanced Study from 1973 to 1974. Twitchett and Arthur F. Wright co-edited Perspectives on the T'ang, published by Yale University Press in 1973.
• 1974 (49 years old)
Twitchett was the chief contributor of The Times Atlas of China, edited by P. J. M. Geelan and published by Times Books in 1974.
• 1976 (51 years old)
In 1976, Twitchett published his work The Birth of the Chinese Meritocracy: Bureaucrats and Examinations in T'ang China. (China Society Occasional Papers,no.18.)
• 1977 (52 years old)
Together with John King Fairbank, Twitchett was Principal Editor of the Cambridge History of China. He held this position from 1977 to 2006.
• 1978 (53 years old)
Twitchett was a Visiting Professor at Princeton University from 1978 to 1979.
• 1979 (54 years old)
Twitchett was the editor of the third volume of The Cambridge History of China (Sui and T'ang China, 589-906, part 1) published in 1979.
• 1980 (55 years old)
Twitchett became the first Gordon Wu '58 Professor of Chinese Studies at Princeton University in 1980. In 1980, the Syndics of Cambridge University Press decided to expand The Cambridge History of China into a fifteen-volume set which would cover the history of both imperial China and twentieth-century China.
• 1983 (58 years old)
Twitchett's work entitled Printing and Publishing in Medieval China was published in 1983 by the Frederic C. Beil publishing company.
• 1986 (61 years old)
The first volume of The Cambridge History of China (The Ch' in and Han Empires, 221 BC- AD 220) was published in 1986. Denis Twitchett and Michael Loewe were the editors of this volume.
• 1988 (63 years old)
Together with Frederick W. Mote, Twitchett edited the seventh volume of the Cambridge History of China (The Ming Dynasty, 1368-1644, pt. 1) published by Cambridge University Press in 1988. In 1988, Twitchett revived the journal Asia Major, and became the editor of the journal's Third Series. Since Twitchett taught at Princeton University, the journal Asia Major was moved to Princeton. Before World War II, Asia Major and the French journal T'oung Pao were the two most important scholarly journals in Europe for Chinese studies. After Twitchett became the editor of Asia Major, the journal again thrived. In 1997, the Institute of History & Philology, Academia Sinica, took over the editing and publishing responsibilities of Asia Major, and the previous editorial system was changed into an editorial board. Twitchett still served as the Principal Editor of Asia Major even after the journal was moved from the United States to Taiwan.
• 1991 (66 years old)
Twitchett was the consultant editor of the second edition of The Cambridge Encyclopedia of China (edited by Brian Hook) published by Cambridge University Press in 1991.
• 1992 (67 years old)
Twitchett's work The Writing of Official History under the T'ang was included in the Cambridge Studies in Chinese History, Literature, and Institutions published in 1992 by Cambridge University Press.
• 1993 (68 years old)
Twitchett's wife passed away.
• 1994 (69 years old)
Twitchett formally retired from Princeton University. After Twitchett's retirement from Princeton in 1994 and until his passing in 2006, he was re-elected annually by the trustees of Princeton University as the Senior Scholar in the Department of East Asian Studies. Herbert Franke and Denis Twitchett co-edited the sixth volume of The Cambridge History of China (Alien Regimes and Border States, 907-1368) published by Cambridge University Press in 1994.
• 1996 (71 years old)
At the invitation of the Institute of History & Philology, Professor Twitchett delivered the three annual Fu Ssu-nien Memorial Lectures at Academia Sinica in 1996. The 1996 Fu Ssu-nien Memorial Lectures: November 16, 1996 (first lecture): Compiling the Cambridge History of China November 23, 1996 (second lecture): The Liao's Changing Perception of its T'ang Heritage November 27, 1996 (third lecture): The T'ang Official Historian
• 1997 (72 years old)
Twitchett's three lectures held for the 1996 Fu Ssu-nien Memorial Lectures were published in 1997 by the Institute of History & Philology in the book entitled The Historian, His Readers, and the Passage of Time.
• 1998 (73 years old)
Together with Frederick W. Mote, Twitchett edited the eighth volume of the Cambridge History of China (The Ming Dynasty, 1368-1644, pt. 2), published by Cambridge University Press in 1998.
• Denis Twitchett passed away on 24 February 2006 at age 80