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Castaway
1 appearance
The country's most senior serving judge who led the inquiry into the Hillsborough Stadium disaster.
On the island
Eight records
Symphony No. 1 in D major (final movement)
Chicago Symphony Orchestra conducted by Klaus Tennstedt
I would want to have the sound of a full modern orchestra, and [Mahler] wrote a number of symphonies. I think, however, his first was his best, and the particular part I'm asking for is so beautiful that I think I couldn't have left it behind.
I remember from my boyhood we had on a seventy eight record, and I loved it, played it again and again. And I think it combines that Schubert's capacity for summoning up images of nature and also a sort of Viennese refinement. The piano accompaniment is marvellous. It ripples in the way that water would. And it's a beautiful performance. I'd like to have it.
It's a marvellous piece and it ev evokes uh the atmosphere of a Parisian nightclub. Not that I've ever been to one, in fact, but I I like like the idea.
String Quartet No. 15 in A minor, Op. 132 (final movement)
Some four years ago my wife was had a major operation. and I went to visit her. And I said shall we have some music? and switched on the radio, and on came this uh quartet, and a particular part of it. A slow movement which is headed A Thanksgiving to God for one recovering from an illness. And there's a particular part of the movement where Beethoven is marked feeling renewed strength and it was just that bit that came on as we switched the radio on and I found that rather encouraging and really rather poignant. But I think I'd like to have the last movement of it if I could.
Soave sia il vento (from Così fan tutte)
Yvonne Minton, Hans Sotin, Margaret Price; New Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Otto Klemperer
I hope that uh if anybody's coming to rescue [me from the] island that the same will apply.
I think he produces the most marvellous rhythmic presti digitation, and this is a very good example of it, Carolina [Shout]. I've got the music for that and I've tried it many times and it just dies at the end of my fingers, I'm afraid. I just don't have the rhythmic ability to give what it takes.
String Quintet in C major, D. 956 (slow movement)
Alban Berg Quartet with Heinrich Schiff
This is, I think, the most sublime piece of chamber music I know, Schubert's string quintet. And I would like to have the slow movement, which is ethereal in its quality. It just seems to hang and there are shifting harmonies, but otherwise it just seems to be quite timeless.
Symphony No. 41 in C major, K. 551 'Jupiter' (final movement)Favourite
London Classical Players conducted by Roger Norrington
The last record is Mozart's um Jupiter Symphony, which I should like because it's so cheerful and uplifting. And I particularly like the last movement, which is a miracle of uh construction, although you are not conscious of the the miracles of technical achievement of Mozart. When you hear it, it just sounds so natural. But uh we perhaps have the last part where he plays about four different themes altogether, and it ends in a cheerful, triumphant mood, which I think I would need to restore my spirits.
In conversation
Presenter asks
1:06Your new job has been described as the most awful job in the world, and another called it gruelling, and two of your predecessors have cracked under the strain. Why did you want to do it?
I suppose the challenge one doesn't seek to do it, but when the invitation comes it's um hard to resist it, and uh I think if one did say no, one would feel somewhat wimpish afterwards.
Presenter asks
9:17You said at your press conference, 'I am not wholly out of touch with mainstream life in this country.' What did you mean by that?
Well, I was meaning that although in the law obviously we live in chambers together, we work in courts together, we have our rooms in the royal courts of justice and the temple is a kind of collegiate atmosphere, I don't think that judges are out of touch with ordinary life. We're kept in touch by other things we do, by our children, by experiences we've had before we've come to the bar, and also at the bar. I spent twenty-six years defending and prosecuting and I think I probably heard case histories from innumerable old lags, which some of which may have been true, some of which probably weren't, but I have a good deal of experience of that sort of life. And I think that perhaps the public don't realize that. That's why I mentioned uh what I did.
The keepsakes
The book
Leo Tolstoy
I've taken War and Peace on a number of holidays, and I've never managed to finish it, so this might be the opportunity.
Presenter asks
Is this general allegation that judges can be out of touch one of the reasons you want to get rid of wigs and robes?
Yes, I think so. I I think that the idea that judges are out of touch is is to an extent linked not wholly, but to to an extent linked to the fact that we wear this eighteenth century costume. I'm not sure about the robes. I think we do need some form of distinction to so that somebody knows who's the judge and who's an usher and who's a a defendant. But I think the [wigs] particularly are a gift to cartoonists, they are a gift to columnists. And uh they help to foster an image which I don't think is still true of the judiciary, and I think if we cast them off we would, as I've said before, at a stroke, uh disarm a certain amount of criticism.
Presenter asks
14:29Do you think your interest in sport was part of the reason you were chosen to lead the inquiry into the Hillsborough football disaster? And did that experience help?
I doubt it, really. Uh I did used to go and watch Newcastle United when I was about sixteen or seventeen, but the um the scene then was very different from the scene nowadays. No, I don't think that was why I was asked to do it, but I found it a fascinating exercise, although really harrowing. And um It was a most uh interesting experience having been in the Court of Appeal to go back and sit and hear live witnesses giving live evidence, having spent so long reading transcripts. I think it's a very good thing that an appeal judge should occasionally try a case with witnesses, just to remind himself what real people are like.
Presenter asks
21:16You prosecuted Stefan Kiszko, who was wrongfully convicted of murder and recently released. What does that make you feel personally? Do you have a sense of regret or guilt?
I certainly have a a sense of regret, uh of course. And and I think it's very salutary to realize that in a case where you were totally unaware that there was anything that uh would have revealed uh innocence uh had you known it, uh the case can go wrong. And it's a very salutary uh lesson that we are dealing as human beings with matters in which we are bound to be fallible. and therefore one can't guarantee that a a case will necessarily never arise again where there has been an injustice done, but we do our best. And of course when it when it's proved afterwards that it's gone wrong, one feels regret, but not necessarily guilt, because one does one's best at the time on the information one has.
Presenter asks
33:56Will you for one moment wish you'd persevered and become a concert pianist, or will you be happy that you chose the law?
I think that uh I'll be happy I chose the law. I've enjoyed my time in the law very much indeed. I think probably my time at the bar most. But uh I might uh improve my performance on the piano with the luxury I propose to take.
“I think you either have judgment or you don't, but I think you need a lot of experience before you can see your way through the complexities of cases and uh realize what the what justice requires.”
“I think that the idea that judges are out of touch is is to an extent linked not wholly, but to to an extent linked to the fact that we wear this eighteenth century costume.”
“I think it's a very good thing that an appeal judge should occasionally try a case with witnesses, just to remind himself what real people are like.”
“I certainly have a a sense of regret, uh of course. And and I think it's very salutary to realize that in a case where you were totally unaware that there was anything that uh would have revealed uh innocence uh had you known it, uh the case can go wrong.”
“I think I would. I very much need company, and uh I shall lack it, I'm afraid.”