{"product_id":"benchmark-life-laughter-and-the-law-9781845119324","title":"Benchmark: Life, Laughter and the Law","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSir Oliver Popplewella's career goes a long way to explode myths and to show what judges are really like: impartial, skilled in the law, above party politics certainly, but essentially human. He was certainly born into a comfortable middle-class family, but his upbringing was (to quote from Stephen Frya's Foreword to this book) \"more Betjeman Metroland than Wodehouse Mayfaira\". Sir Oliver was called to the Bar by the Inner Temple and a successful career at the junior bar and on the Oxford and Midland Circuit culminated in his becoming a QC and his subsequent elevation to the High Court Bench. Various high profile cases followed involving public figures - Jonathan Aitken, Lawrence Dallaglio, the England rugby captain, or the sprinter Linford Christie in Christie v McVicar, the editor of Spike magazine - and the public enquiry into the tragic fire at the Bradford City football ground. This autobiography is an absorbing portrait of the career of one of England's most distinguished lawyers, recounted in a witty, intelligent and effortlessly engaging style.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA delightful book. Here is a life of integrity, intelligence, decency, diligence and public service retold in a clear and self-deprecating style that captures the reader from the last paragraph to the last.  From the Foreword by Stephen Fry.  'I commend Benchmark to anyone who likes to read of distinguished men who lead honest and interesting times, but are not too pompous to recall the time they drank the last of the milk during rationing.'  Rachel Johnson, 'The Sunday Times'.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTable of Contents\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIllustrations Foreword, by Stephen Fry Prelude: ‘I’ll Move it, Guv’nor’  1.\tChildhood 2.\tGrowing Up 3.\tNational Service 4.\tUniversity 5.\tCambridge Cricket 6.\tFamily and Friends 7.\tFirst Steps at the Bar 8.\tBradford 9.\tJonathan Aiken 10.\tA Legal Miscellany 11.\tEmployment Appeal Tribunal 12.\tMurder 13.\tParole 14.\tThe MCC and the Bailey Affair 15.\tImran Khan and Barry Wood 16.\tLottery at Lords and ‘Pie in the Sky’ 17.\tReflections","brand":"Bloomsbury Publishing PLC","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51742776197463,"sku":"9781845119324","price":999.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9781845119324.jpg?v=1758386505","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/benchmark-life-laughter-and-the-law-9781845119324","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}