Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Lawyer and politician who, as Attorney General, led the British prosecution at the Nuremberg War Crimes Tribunal.
On the island
Eight records
Some Enchanted Evening (from South Pacific)Favourite
favourite disc: yes
In conversation
Presenter asks
7:44Why did you leave it so long to enter Parliament? [You were determined at 16 to go into politics, yet you didn't become an MP until the 1945 Labour Government.]
Uh my first wife was from The beginning of our marriage very seriously ill. And that occupied my time very much, and made it essential for me to earn enough money to see cheap. got proper treatment. She had to go to Switzerland for two years and all the operations and so on. All this was expensive.
Presenter asks
15:49Can you recall the atmosphere in that courtroom in the Palace of Justice in Nuremberg, where there were some twenty of Hitler's closest aides in the dock?
Yes, the atmosphere was solemn. Dignified, very dignified. And um Everybody, really, with the exception of Hess, behaved very well. I recall Goering in particular. He was obviously a very remarkable character. Very able. And he'd got a sense of humour. Indeed, the difficulty was not to catch his eye. Because sometimes in the course of a long trial like that something would go wrong. And if you looked out of the corner of your eye, Goering was sitting over there. and caught his eye he would shake his head And it was difficult not to laugh,'cause one couldn't do that, so one had to be very careful.
Presenter asks
The keepsakes
The book
Anthony Trollope
I'd take the one I'm in the middle of reading now for the second time already. And it's an extraordinary novel. It's very applicable to the present time and a wonderful sketch of life in the second half of the last century.
The luxury
Compact disc player with radio and solar battery
I want to have a disc player and radio powered by a solar battery so that I can listen to the records and listen to news to the world, in spite of being on a desert island.
Why do you believe it to be an unworkable piece of legislation [the War Crimes Bill]?
Well, it'll depend on evidence of identification. Going back forty-five years. and it's notorious, certainly amongst all practising lawyers, that evidence of identification even after four days Is the most frail of all forms of human testimony. Moreover, you have to consider this from the point of view of the defendants. They may want to prove that the identification is wrong. and for that purpose they may want to get evidence of witnesses from the countries where these crimes were committed. and they will have no chance, as far as I can see. of putting up a defence, for instance, of an alibi, that they were somewhere else at the time. Or evidence that uh although the crime took place it was somebody else who did it.
Presenter asks
24:42What put you off politics? Was it the frustration of opposition or disenchantment with the Labour Party?
Both. I was gradually getting disenchanted with the Labour Party. Also. reading my speeches in the beginning I was A red hot socialist, I gradually came to realize that socialism wasn't working. … But the other thing I disliked about opposition was that I was expected to speak from the front bench on the opposition side. … and I had to oppose him virtually on everything he proposed, although I knew perfectly well that in many cases not in all but in many cases it's exactly what I would have done myself if I'd been in his position.
Presenter asks
30:01Is the fact that you live alone perhaps one of the reasons that you go on working so hard? Because you work every day, don't you?
Work every day. Well, I think that um It's really essential to go on working hard if you'll Want to live at all? In my sort of situation it's Something I just have to do. I'm sure if my wife had lived um we might have arranged things quite differently. But I've seen so many people retire. Apparently in the best of health. The next thing one reads they've gone to rusticate in the country. Next thing one reads about them is that they're obituary notice.
Presenter asks
33:52Do you have any regrets that you'd care to share, either professional or personal?
Well, I have a lot of regrets, certainly, but I don't think I'd care to share them now. Um I've had um On the whole the A very happy life. I'm not at all proud of my life. But I'm In many ways I'm undeservedly happy now, I suppose. I've got three children who are or very close to man. and of whom I see a great deal. And um That's why I remain on. keeping of a country home. which is still regarded by all of them as their basic home, and they come back to it whenever they can.
“I've got no sex that I'm going to disclose. No secrets that I am prepared to give away, and therefore no sensations. I think it would be very dull.”
“I recall Goering in particular. He was obviously a very remarkable character. Very able. And he'd got a sense of humour. Indeed, the difficulty was not to catch his eye.”
“I've seen so many people retire. Apparently in the best of health. The next thing one reads they've gone to rusticate in the country. Next thing one reads about them is that they're obituary notice.”
“I'm not at all proud of my life. But I'm In many ways I'm undeservedly happy now, I suppose.”