As Far as I Remember

This is the autobiography of Sir Michael Kerr, chronicling the life of one of Britain's most prominent judges, from his childhood up to his career in the Court of Appeal and beyond.

They relate the story of his internment as an enemy alien in 1940 and of his subsequent release and service as a pilot in the Royal Air Force until the end of World War II. The author then returned to Cambridge to finish his law degree and was urged to go the Bar. The later chapters of this autobiography are mainly devoted to the law. They recount the authors career as a leading commercial Junior and then a Silk, his initial hesitations about the Bench, but ultimately culminating in his appointment as a Lord Justice of Appeal. He describes the Bar of the post-war decades and is frank about the frustrations and disappointments of his career. He also provides insights into the oddities of the English legal system, but maintaining throughout his firm belief in the importance of an independent Bar.

The beginning
my father and his family
my grandparents
my mother
my father's work
my parents together
my sister
the early years
the twenties
clouds
flight
Switzerland
an interlude - "fast forward"
to France
Paris - the beginning
Lycee Michelet
the Fizaines (and others)
Paris - the second year
to Nice
our parents in London
the end of the Lycee de Nice
the promised land
Aldenham
the first year
1937
1938-1939
the final end of Nice
the phoney war - Cambridge
the real war starts
internment
reactions
the Isle of Man
release
another interlude - "fast forward"
the Blitz - back to Aldenham - the RAF
air crew cadet
wings
learning to teach flying
flying instructor back in Cambridge
twin engines
joining a Wellington crew
twin engines
612 Squadron
the war in Europe ends
demobilisation
post-war Cambridge
1946
1947
Michele
going to the Bar
my mother leaves
my father's death
a postscript
beginnings at the Bar
marriage, etc
my mother in Germany
a painful family reunion
my mother's death
end of a generation
the second half
the junior Bar
silk
some highlights
towards the end of the Bar
the Bench?
life as a judge
separation
the Law Commission
Diana
the Court of Appeal
disappointments
a new profession
a resurrection
epilogue
annexe - the Macao Sardine Case.