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Oliver Popplewell
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The Honourable Sir Oliver Bury Popplewell (born 15 August 1927 in Northwood, Middlesex) 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 Aitkin'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.
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The Honourable Sir Oliver Bury Popplewell (born 15 August 1927 in Northwood, Middlesex) 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 Aitkin'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 MCC from 1994 until 1996. He wrote a book about his legal career.
Biography
Popplewell's father, aged 47 when Oliver was born, was a civil servant in the Board of Trade. A widower, Sir Oliver remarried fellow-barrister Dame Elizabeth Gloster in March 2008. He is the father of four sons, the eldest of whom is the Cambridge University and Somerset cricketer, Nigel Popplewell, and also has thirteen grandchildren amongst 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, and after spending two years of National Service in the Royal Navy, he went to Queens' College, Cambridge as an exhibitioner. He was awarded a B.A. degree in 1950 and an LL.B. in 1951.
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.
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. He played for Cambridge University from 1949 until 1951 at the time when Rev DS Sheppard was playing for the University, for MCC in 1953, and for the Free Foresters from 1952 until 1960. His only bowling stint was three balls for MCC against Cambridge University in 1953. He was president of the MCC from 1994 to 1996.
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.
Cases
In 1975, he defended a then-18-year-old Stephen Fry 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.
He presided over the libel case brought by Jonathan Aitken against The Guardian and Granada Television.
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. 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, though Popplewell asserts that this description did not apply to him.
He upheld Reynold's privilege, established in the House of Lords in Reynolds v Times Newspapers in 1999, in an action against the Yorkshire Post for reporting that a local karate company was selling "rip-off" lessons.
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.
Bibliography
- Benchmark: A Life in the Law by Oliver Popplewell (foreword by Stephen Fry) Publisher: I.B. Tauris (30 June 2003) ISBN 978-1860648861
- Football in Its Place by David Canter, Miriam Comber and David L. Uzzell with an introduction by Sir Oliver Popplewell, Publisher: Taylor & Francis Books Ltd (4 May 1989) ISBN 978-0415012409
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