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Trial and Error
- GenresHistory
1 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 1987
19 people want to read
About the author
Robert Kee
58 books12 followersRobert Kee, CBE was a broadcaster, journalist and writer, known for his historical works on World War II and Ireland.
He was educated at Stowe School, Buckingham, and read history at Magdalen College, Oxford, where he was a pupil, then a friend, of the historian A.J.P. Taylor.
During World War II he served in the Royal Air Force as a bomber pilot. His Hampden was shot down by flak one night while on a mine-laying operation off the coast of German-occupied Holland. He was imprisoned and spent three years in a German POW camp. This gave him material for his first book A Crowd Is Not Company. It was first published as a novel in 1947 but was later revealed to be an autobiography. It recounts his experiences as a prisoner of war and his various escapes from the Nazi camp. The Times describes it as "arguably the best POW book ever written."
His career in journalism began immediately after the Second World War. He worked for the Picture Post, then later became a special correspondent for The Sunday Times and The Observer. He was also literary editor of The Spectator.
In 1958 he moved to television. He appeared for many years on both the BBC and ITV as reporter, interviewer and presenter. He presented many current affairs programmes including Panorama, ITN's First Report and Channel 4's Seven Days. He was awarded the BAFTA Richard Dimbleby Award in 1976.
Kee wrote and presented the documentary series Ireland – A Television History in 1980. The work was widely shown in the United Kingdom and the United States and received great critical acclaim, winning the Christopher Ewart-Biggs Memorial Prize. Following its transmission on RTÉ, the Irish national broadcaster, Kee won a Jacob's Award for his script and presentation.
He was educated at Stowe School, Buckingham, and read history at Magdalen College, Oxford, where he was a pupil, then a friend, of the historian A.J.P. Taylor.
During World War II he served in the Royal Air Force as a bomber pilot. His Hampden was shot down by flak one night while on a mine-laying operation off the coast of German-occupied Holland. He was imprisoned and spent three years in a German POW camp. This gave him material for his first book A Crowd Is Not Company. It was first published as a novel in 1947 but was later revealed to be an autobiography. It recounts his experiences as a prisoner of war and his various escapes from the Nazi camp. The Times describes it as "arguably the best POW book ever written."
His career in journalism began immediately after the Second World War. He worked for the Picture Post, then later became a special correspondent for The Sunday Times and The Observer. He was also literary editor of The Spectator.
In 1958 he moved to television. He appeared for many years on both the BBC and ITV as reporter, interviewer and presenter. He presented many current affairs programmes including Panorama, ITN's First Report and Channel 4's Seven Days. He was awarded the BAFTA Richard Dimbleby Award in 1976.
Kee wrote and presented the documentary series Ireland – A Television History in 1980. The work was widely shown in the United Kingdom and the United States and received great critical acclaim, winning the Christopher Ewart-Biggs Memorial Prize. Following its transmission on RTÉ, the Irish national broadcaster, Kee won a Jacob's Award for his script and presentation.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
May 6, 2018
The appalling role of the police in securing these convictions is now well known. This was the first book to expose it meaningfully and reliably. It doesn't linger. Like a fair court room it presents both sides and leaves the reader to doubt and query. There have been huge changes in policing since with a Royal Commission, PACE and a whole series of exposures that show that policing in this country during the 1970s and 80s was disgraceful. Whether it is truly reformed is a moot point. But we'll leave that as it is.
The big qusetion mark is over the independence and fairness of the judiciary and the leagl system in these trials, appeals and campaigns. That the Guildford Four and the Maguires didn't get a fair trial can be taken as fact. Why this should be and what happened in the aftermath connects it with the present. Sir Michael Havers role is close to despicable and yet he went on to be Attorney General. Donaldson J went onto be Master of the Rolls. Both seem in the light of this book (and though seemingly balanced and good journalism is nonetheless a single viewpoint) would appear to be unfit for public office.
There was a change in the attitude of the judiciary once the corruption, the wrong-doing, the unfairness was exposed; the rank corruption mining all within, infecting unseen; was exposed in Lord Lane's famous (and horribly reluctant words of realisation "Then, they must have lied". There is a strong need to see just how far this change is real and how far the old ways remain in the habits of the courts (lower courts, magistrates etc as well as the high flown justices). Perhaps someone with time on their hands, a commitment to justice, a love of the potential of the English legal system and the resources to hand might make it a doctoral comparative study into the workings of the criminal justice system 1970-1990 v 2000 - 2018.
What remains here is a story that shouldn't have been largely pushed into a corner and left to the sneering cynical claims that there must have been guilt. If my mother had been arrested that day, along with my brothers and myself, we would have been no more guilty than the Maguires. What happened here is a national disgrace. It was exposed as a national disgrace and improvements were made. This book by Robert Kee played a big role in the exposure. It ought to be read more widely but for the good that it has done we owe the author a huge vote of thanks.
The big qusetion mark is over the independence and fairness of the judiciary and the leagl system in these trials, appeals and campaigns. That the Guildford Four and the Maguires didn't get a fair trial can be taken as fact. Why this should be and what happened in the aftermath connects it with the present. Sir Michael Havers role is close to despicable and yet he went on to be Attorney General. Donaldson J went onto be Master of the Rolls. Both seem in the light of this book (and though seemingly balanced and good journalism is nonetheless a single viewpoint) would appear to be unfit for public office.
There was a change in the attitude of the judiciary once the corruption, the wrong-doing, the unfairness was exposed; the rank corruption mining all within, infecting unseen; was exposed in Lord Lane's famous (and horribly reluctant words of realisation "Then, they must have lied". There is a strong need to see just how far this change is real and how far the old ways remain in the habits of the courts (lower courts, magistrates etc as well as the high flown justices). Perhaps someone with time on their hands, a commitment to justice, a love of the potential of the English legal system and the resources to hand might make it a doctoral comparative study into the workings of the criminal justice system 1970-1990 v 2000 - 2018.
What remains here is a story that shouldn't have been largely pushed into a corner and left to the sneering cynical claims that there must have been guilt. If my mother had been arrested that day, along with my brothers and myself, we would have been no more guilty than the Maguires. What happened here is a national disgrace. It was exposed as a national disgrace and improvements were made. This book by Robert Kee played a big role in the exposure. It ought to be read more widely but for the good that it has done we owe the author a huge vote of thanks.
Displaying 1 of 1 review