Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Pioneering female barrister known for defending the Kray twins and founding a pro bono law centre.
On the island
Eight records
Because to me it represents rebellion and history. And Paul Robeson, of course, has such a superb voice. And this is a a brilliant song.
Choir of King's College, Cambridge
It is sublimely beautiful, I think. And it reminds me of those Christmases during the war. It's played on the radio, or the wireless we called it in those days, every Christmas. It was very austere existence that I ... I just remember the magic of those Christmases, with a burning wood fire in the drawing room ... And this wonderful music.
But the song I chose, just because I think it's so beautiful, is Simon and Garfunkel singing Scarborough Fair.
Tom the Era's songs were very anti-Republican ... are very critical of the governance of the southern states, and this is one of them.
Sull'aria... che soave zeffiretto (The Letter Duet)Favourite
Edith Mathis and Gunda Le Janowitz, with the Deutsche Oper Berlin Orchestra conducted by Karl Böhm
Because it's the duet between Susannah and the Countess, when they have outwitted the lecturer's Count. And so this is a triumphant feminist aria. That's why I love it.
It's strosetostroma. Which is a song in Greek written by Micky Theodoraki. I think it's a lovely song.
I'm choosing it because it's so very important episode in my life ... I was actually still in hospital ... when it came on the radio. It hit me like a sledgehammer ... It just pushed me into a really deep depression. ... I've conquered it.
It's going to be bark. who is one of my favorite composers. And it's Jesus Joy of Man's Desiring. And it's played by Lang Lang.
In conversation
Presenter asks
3:12When you started out, you were one of just a handful of women practising law. What actually inspired you to take it up as a career?
I thought when I was at school that I'd like to go into politics. And I thought this was a good route in. And I've always been very, very political.
Presenter asks
3:42Your work is honoured by something called the Lethbridge White Gloves tradition. Tell me about it.
Oh, that's quite funny, Katie Gull is a wonderful girl. She was very amused when I told her a story. When I was a pupil barrister, my pupil master was a very alarming man ... and one day I turned up at the old bailey wearing a pair of beautiful kid gloves, which my mother had given me for Christmas, and they were pink, and he just looked at my hands and he said, Pink glove at the old bailiff. So I reluctantly I took them off and got a pair of plain black ones. ... She got a pair of beautiful white lead gloves which are presented every year to one of the women who's just taken silk. ... They're known as the Lethbridge Gloves.
Presenter asks
7:46Your parents' honeymoon was a bit of an adventure. What happened exactly?
Oh, they got married in Shimla, as it's called now, in northern India, where the family had a house called Armadale Cottage, and after they got married in Holy Trinity Church, Shimla, they walked into bitter ... Six weeks there and back.
The keepsakes
The book
Omar Khayyám
I'd like an ancient Persian poem which was a favourite of my father, the Rubaiet of Omo Khayyam.
The luxury
Presenter asks
14:58You were sent away to boarding school when you were just nine years old. How did you cope with leaving your family behind?
Hated it. Absolutely hated it, and I was miserable at that school. Now I can see it I never said at the time. Headmaster was paedophile. But I never told anybody. I had a great friend there, and she used to say, What's he trying to do? So she was being abused as well, the room. Yes. We used to be called in once a week for something that he called the private interview. made to sit on his knee. And I and my friend Gillion talked about this and Gillian said, I tell you what he's trying to do. He's trying to find out how quickly you can close your ribs so that he can get at your heart.
Presenter asks
17:20In 1946, your father took you and your brother down to the Führerbunker. What do you remember about it?
He took us up to Berlin. He said I was spending too much time sitting in our house in Western Germany reading the Bronces. He said, I didn't bring you to Germany to read the Brontes. I wanted to teach you a bit of history. ... He managed to get the keys. ... down many steps we went, and there were different rooms on each of them, and he got the keys and opened them. ... The further down we went, the more significant they became. And then we came to one room which had nothing in it except a sofa which was covered in some satin material. I think it was orange or yellow. It had a terrible big brown stain. I felt just a little Okay, I think we've seen enough.
Presenter asks
27:08What kind of discrimination did you face when you were called to the bar?
Tenancy in Chambers. The first thing they did was to put a Yay lock on the lavatory. So that I couldn't use the lavatory. So all the men had a key, but you didn't? Yes. They had one cut for every member, and I was told to go up the road to Fleet Street and used the Cardoma. ... I was also told that I couldn't have access to the chambers work. ... The Scotland Yard solicitor who had all the work in his gift just didn't like women. And he wouldn't send any work. ... And so there was no work for me. and I was told I'd have to look for my own. ... The dock brief, it's a very strange archaic system. Defendants who were unrepresented in criminal cases were brought up into court on the first day of the session. And they were told to look at the row of unemployed barristers at the bottom of the court. And choose one.
“I can remember back to ten months when we were stationed in Chakrata in the Himalayas.”
“Hated it. Absolutely hated it, and I was miserable at that school.”
“He's trying to find out how quickly you can close your ribs so that he can get at your heart.”
“Anger, but also shame. You know, that's the odd thing. You feel it's your fault.”
“It would mean everything. Because it was a miscarriage of justice, and I hate injustice.”