Oliver Popplewell

From Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core
Jump to: navigation, search
Oliver Popplewell
Personal information
Born (1927-08-15) 15 August 1927 (age 96)
Batting style Right-hand bat
Bowling style unknown
International information
National side
Career statistics
Competition Tests First-class
Matches 0 41
Runs scored 881
Batting average 20.48
100s/50s 0/2
Top score 74 not out
Balls bowled 3
Wickets 0
Bowling average
5 wickets in innings
10 wickets in match
Best bowling 0/10
Catches/stumpings 63/16
Source: [1]

Sir Oliver Bury Popplewell (born 15 August 1927) is a former British judge. He chaired the inquiry into the Bradford City stadium fire, presided over the libel case brought by Jonathan Aitken MP against The Guardian newspaper which eventually led to Aitken's imprisonment for perjury, and was widely reported for asking "What is Linford's lunchbox?" during a case over which he was presiding, brought by Linford Christie. He played first-class cricket for Cambridge University and was president of the Marylebone Cricket Club from 1994 until 1996. He wrote a book about his legal career.

Personal life

Popplewell was born in Northwood, Middlesex. His father, aged 47 when Oliver was born, was a civil servant in the Board of Trade.[1] A widower, Sir Oliver remarried fellow-barrister Dame Elizabeth Gloster in March 2008.[2] He is the father of four sons,[1] the eldest of whom is the Cambridge University and Somerset cricketer, Nigel Popplewell,[3] and another of whom (Andrew) is also a High Court Judge. He has 13 grandchildren[4] among whom is the actress Anna Popplewell.

Education

Popplewell went to Charterhouse School as a scholar, where he played cricket with Peter May and future politician Jim Prior,[5] and after spending two years of National Service in the Royal Navy,[1] he went to Queens' College, Cambridge as an exhibitioner. He was awarded a BA degree in 1950 and an LL.B. in 1951.[6]

In 2003, Popplewell became one of the oldest mature students at the University of Oxford when he started reading Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Harris Manchester College.[7][8]

Cricket

Popplewell was a right-handed wicket-keeper-batsman, playing 56 innings in 41 matches, scoring 881 runs for an average of 20.46 including two half-centuries.[9] He played for Cambridge University from 1949 until 1951 at the time when the Reverend David Sheppard was playing for the university, for MCC in 1953 and for the Free Foresters from 1952 until 1960.[3] His only bowling stint was three balls[10] for MCC against Cambridge University in 1953.[11] He was president of the MCC from 1994 to 1996.[1]

Legal career

Popplewell was called to the bar in 1951. He became a Queen's Counsel in 1969. After serving as Recorder of Burton upon Trent and Deputy Chairman of Oxfordshire Quarter Sessions, he was appointed as Recorder of the Crown Court in 1971. He was a High Court judge from 1983 until 2003. During this time, he chaired the Bradford Inquiry into Crowd Control and Safety at Sports Grounds in 1985. He became president of the Employment Appeal Tribunal and vice-chairman of the Parole Board in 1986, and a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators in 1996.[6]

Cases

In 1975 he defended his godson Stephen Fry, who was 18 at the time, at his trial for credit card fraud. Popplewell and his wife had long been friends of Fry's parents. Stephen Fry writes about the event in his autobiography Moab Is My Washpot.

Following the fire at Valley Parade, the Bradford City stadium, on 11 May 1985, Popplewell was chosen to chair an inquiry held under the Safety of Sports Grounds Act 1975. Following this inquiry, he was chosen to chair a Committee of Inquiry into Crowd Safety at Sports Grounds. In 1999, he donated the papers of the inquiry to the University of Bradford.[12]

A copy of the Committee of Inquiry into Crowd Safety and Control at Sports Grounds' Interim Report has been published online in PDF format by the Bradford City Fire website.[13]

He presided over the libel case brought by Jonathan Aitken against The Guardian and Granada Television.[1]

While presiding over the High Court case brought by the athlete Linford Christie against former criminal John McVicar, the editor of Spike magazine, he was widely reported as asking, "What is Linford's lunchbox?". He later claimed that this was intended as a joke.[14] The question was in the tradition of British jurisprudence, in which the judge asks seemingly inane questions relevant to the facts of the case on the assumption that the jury, which cannot ask questions, is ignorant of them. Following this case, the name "Mr Justice Cocklecarrot" was revived by Private Eye magazine (it was originally the name of a character in the Beachcomber column in the Daily Express) which became the magazine's generic name for unworldly and out-of-touch judges,[7] though Popplewell asserts that this description did not apply to him.[15]

He upheld Reynolds Defence, established in the House of Lords in Reynolds v Times Newspapers Ltd in 1999, in an action against the Yorkshire Post for reporting that a local karate company was selling "rip-off" lessons.[16]

Since he retired, Popplewell has spoken up for the right of judges to impose the sentences they see fit. He had an argument with Home Secretary David Blunkett who was seeking to introduce mandatory minimum sentences for some serious crimes.[17]

Hillsborough controversy and the Bradford City stadium fire developments

On 19 October 2011 he sparked fury by calling on the Liverpool families involved in the Hillsborough disaster to behave more like the relatives of victims of the Bradford City stadium disaster. He made the comments in a letter to The Times following the Commons debate[18] on 17 October 2011 calling for all Cabinet papers on Hillsborough to be released. He said: "The citizens of Bradford behaved with quiet dignity and great courage. They did not harbour conspiracy theories. They did not seek endless further inquiries".[19] His letter was published by the Times sister paper, The Sun, which is boycotted on Merseyside, the day after it was revealed to Parliament that senior policemen had changed the evidence of junior policemen whose evidence contradicted the official version given to the press by police spokesmen. Popplewell was widely criticised for his comments,[20] including a rebuke from a survivor of the Bradford stadium disaster.[21]

In April 2015 Popplewell expressed the view that it was "bizarre" to suggest that the Bradford City stadium fire was anything other than accidental. This was in response to the publication of an article in The Guardian newspaper of an extract from a new book "Fifty-Six: The Story of the Bradford Fire" by Martin Fletcher, revealing new information about 8 previous fires allegedly connected to the Bradford City owner and chairman, Stafford Heginbotham (who died in 1995),

Popplewell later qualified his remark and suggested that the police should look into the “remarkable number” of fires allegedly connected to Bradford City’s then chairman “to see if there was anything sinister”.

Popplewell, now 87, had earlier said that he remained convinced that the fire was “undoubtedly” started by accident by a discarded match or cigarette, despite the new evidence.

Bibliography

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. 3.0 3.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. 6.0 6.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. 7.0 7.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. Oliver Popplewell at cricinfo.com
  10. cricinfo.com Op. cit.
  11. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. Committee of Inquiry into Crowd Safety and Control at Sports Grounds' Interim Report
  14. Legal legend and the 'lunchbox' question – The Times 20 May 2003
  15. The real world of Oliver Popplewell – the guardian 20 May 2003
  16. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. Blunkett branded 'a whiner' – BBC 14 May 2003
  18. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  20. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  21. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.