Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
A writer, politician, and distinguished lawyer who became Lord Chancellor.
On the island
Eight records
It reflects very much the mood of contact with Bach, who is much loved, of course, and played and sung in Wales. And there's a special poignancy, I think, in Myra Hearse's version of it, which I'd very much like to play time and time again in a lonely exile.
I would like, especially in the context of what we've been talking about, rugby, Cumranatha, the great hymn which has, when sung at Cardiff Arms Park, led many a Welsh rugby team to victory. And the sound of the singing there, it's a great folk occasion.
Sonny Hale and Jessie Matthews
I heard them sing it more than once.
Symphony No. 40 in G minor, K. 550Favourite
English Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Benjamin Britten
Which is inspiring is a joy to hear whenever I hear it, and I long to hear it played and played again.
Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat major, Op. 73 ('Emperor')
Daniel Barenboim and the New Philharmonia Orchestra, conducted by Otto Klemperer
Written, if if my memory serves me right, while Napoleon's guns were hammering at the gates of Vienna. You'll have been aware that Vienna played a rather significant part in my thinking and experience and it's a tremendous piece.
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Willi Boskovsky
Vienna again, and my particular memory of it is vivid because we had a conference of the Inter-Parliamentary Union in Vienna in 1949. No dancing had been allowed in the great palace... And suddenly the band struck up the blue Danube, and suddenly everybody started dancing. And I'm afraid it was the British delegation that led the dancing.
When I Went to the Bar as a Very Young Man (from Iolanthe)
John Reed with the New Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Isidore Godfrey
Well, that certainly goes from the the grave to the cheerful aspect of the Lord Chancellor's activities, namely, Gilbert and Sullivan's Iolanthe, with one of the songs of the Lord Chancellor there. and I I recollect having to sing it at a concert in the Middle Temple Hall with John Reed.
I Know That My Redeemer Liveth (from Messiah)
It was my mother's favourite part of the Messiah, which we used to perform in the Tabernacle Chapel with the choir in those days... But it's always made a great impact on me, i i if only because, as I say, my mother liked it more than any other hymn.
In conversation
Presenter asks
3:31Were you one of a large family?
Well, my mother and father had seven children. But such was the fate of children born in working class homes in those days that the first three died before they reached the age of twelve. And then there were four survivors, my two brothers and sister and I.
Presenter asks
7:44Had you the intention of becoming a professional historian [at Cambridge]?
I had at the beginning that ambition to become a fellow of my college... But in my last year... I didn't achieve the the level of firsts needed to achieve that ambition. And by then, in any event, my interest raised to some extent by the Cambridge Union debates, by my beginning to get involved in politics, and my then gradual interest in the law that moved me away from Cambridge into a different field.
Presenter asks
11:19Were you principally occupied in criminal law or civil law? And which did you prefer?
Well, I did some of both, including, of course, family law as well. I suppose I probably did more criminal cases in those days. and I appeared in some of the famous cases on the Wales and Chester Circuit.
The keepsakes
The book
G. M. Trevelyan
Well, I think partly out of respect for George Trevelyan, my teacher at Cambridge, and the interest of the subject, I'd like his Social History of England. It stands reading many times.
The luxury
a collage by his wife Pearl Binder
Well, an object which has given me great joy for many years was a collage that my wife has made. In a sense, it's a fun satire of a city dinner. There they sit, the alderman and the Lord Mayor, but they have the heads of animals, cats, dogs, an elephant is in the middle, and the table is strewn with things pasted on in collage, of course, of choice dishes. And this has been shown in many parts of the world. It's always a great delight for me to see it, and I'd love to have it.
Presenter asks
16:56Did anyone show signs of regret [at the Nuremberg trials]?
Oh yes, oh yes, several did. The butcher of Poland said a thousand years will pass and this guilt of Germany will not be erased. von Schirach, who was in charge of Hitler Youth... condemned himself, as he said, for bringing up and training German youth to become slaves of a mass murderer, referring to Hitler.
Presenter asks
19:47What is the job of the Attorney General?
The Attorney General is the principal legal advisor of the Crown, of the government. He conducts cases in court, in important cases, both civil and criminal. and he represents the government of the day in the commons on legislation, especially that emerging by way of law reform from the Lord Chancellor
“I used to be called upon to sing from the pulpit in the tabernacle chapel sad songs, with my mother and sister in tears in the second row I turned to look at them.”
“I found participation in murder trials with the death penalty at the end of the day, very painful, it created a new atmosphere of melodrama, of emotion, crowds of people trying to get into the court, and then if there was a conviction, the hideous delivering of the death sentence... It made me think then, as I think now, that it was something of a blasphemy.”
“That was the most unpleasant emotional experience I had in court, was to read that out. One had to suppress one's emotions, otherwise if I had not done so, the whole of the court would have been in a tumult of of emotion and distress it was awful.”