Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
South African-born barrister renowned for leading anti-apartheid trials and acting for three Nobel Peace Prize winners, including Nelson Mandela.
On the island
Eight records
both of us thought that of the popular non operatic singers the greatest was and is Ella Fitzgerald. It's a wonderful voice and she used to sing wonderful songs.
Bei Männern, welche Liebe fühlen (from Die Zauberflöte)Favourite
the duet between Pamina and Papagheno really seems to me to encompass it all.
I've never forgotten that.
Apart from being very funny and very clever, I thought they were both very good musicians.
Impromptu No. 3 in B-flat major, D. 935
some of his piano music would be very comforting on the desert aisle
Absence (from Les Nuits d'été)
a song of longing, and I've always found it a very moving song.
Victory Test Match (Cricket, Lovely Cricket)
cricket has been one of my great loves
In conversation
Presenter asks
1:13Remind us of who the three Nobel Peace Prize winners are that you have acted on behalf of.
Well, of course, they were all South Africans. The first one was Chief Albert Letulli, a wonderful man who was in the fifties and early sixties the President of the African National Congress. The second was Nelson Mandela himself. I acted for him in a treason trial where the leaders of the African National Congress were put on trial for treason in South Africa. And then finally, uh Archbishop Desmond Tutu, another great man. So it was three great men as well as being three Nobel Prize winners.
Presenter asks
2:11To what do you attribute this extraordinarily long career?
Well, I think it was really that I couldn't do anything else. My wife had a theory that everyone should change his occupation at least every twenty five years and um I couldn't quite do that, but I decided that the best thing I could do by way of change was to try and carry on my occupation in a different country, and so I came to the English Bar.
Presenter asks
4:02Do you find it easy to put your opinions to one side in court?
Well, I don't know whether easy is the right word. It's just part of the barrister's professional approach to his job. There are two aspects to it. Once, as barristers, and this applied in South Africa too, we have something called the cab rank rule, which means that if we practise in a certain field, we've got to take any client, whether we like his personality or his political or religious views. The second thing about it is that if you're too close to your client, you may lose objectivity. You can't simply be your client's mouthpiece.
The keepsakes
The book
P.G. Wodehouse
Well, I will enjoy reading the Bible, and I'll enjoy reading Shakespeare, but my extra book would be The Jeeves Omnibus of PG Woodhouse. Apart from being very entertaining and funny, it's a wonderful example of English prose style.
The luxury
endless supply of coffee and a machine to make it
When my luxury is a rather boring one, I would like an endless supply of coffee and a machine to make it.
Presenter asks
4:57To what extent are you concerned about the British Government's recent moves to restrict legal aid?
When legal aid was introduced in Britain after the Second World War, Britain led the way. It's no use having rights unless you have access to a court in order to enforce them. Your right to claim redress is valueless unless you can be represented in court. My fear is that uh there will be people who will have genuine cases entitled to go to court but unable to find legal representation because of the cost of it.
Presenter asks
16:07Tell me about the Treason Trial when you represented Nelson Mandela.
Well, the trial ran for over three years, and they were mostly African National Congress people. And in those days, in a treason trial, the law permitted the Minister of Justice to nominate three judges to hear the trial. There were no juries, of course, in South Africa. But at the end of the case, the three judges unanimously acquitted all the accused. Now that was a very remarkable thing, that these judges exercised judicial independence and applied the law in spite of their own political views.
Presenter asks
20:33Can you tell me about the Steve Biko inquest and how it came to be heard around the world?
Yes, to my surprise, and I think surprise of everyone in South Africa, that this became an international corps celebre. And what one was able to do there was to reveal the absolute inhumanity of the treatment metered out by the security police to someone who was in their custody.
“I somehow persuaded her to marry me, I suppose my most important piece of advocacy.”
“what she did in South Africa was far more lasting and important than anything I did.”
“He's a humorous man, he's a very kind man, he is a man who believes in conciliation, but there's real steel underneath it.”
“he said with complete factual accuracy, he said, The last time I entered a court of law was to find out whether or not I'd be sentenced to death.”
“The real question is whether they'll want to spend more time with me.”