Court number one : the Old Bailey trials that defined modern Britain / Thomas Grant.

London : John Murray (Publishers), 2019.

1st edition

89298

Great Britain. -- Central Criminal Court -- History.

Criminal law -- England -- London -- Cases.

Trials -- England -- London -- History -- 20th century.

Trials -- England -- London -- History -- 21st century.

Part I: Spectacle

1. The Camden Town murder: R v Wood (1907)

2. The cult of the clitoris: R v Billing (1918)

Part II: Glamour

3. Unnatural practices: R v Fahmy (1923)

4. Poor little rich girl: R v Barney (1932)

Part III: War

5. Haw-haw: R v Joyce (1945)

Part IV: Gloom

6. Christie done it: R v Evans (1950)

7. It is obvious that when I shot him I intended to kill him: R v Ellis (1955)

Part V: Politics

8. Equipment for a spy: R v Martelli (1963)

9. Trial of the century: R v Thorpe (1979)

10. No apologies and no regrets: R v Randle and Pottle (1991)

Part VI: Grief

11. There is no greater task for the criminal justice system than to protect the vulnerable: R v Huntley and Carr (2003)

Appendix I: The Old Bailey: a brief history from 1907

Appendix II: The criminal trial by His Honour Judge Edward Bindloss.

Court Number One of the Old Bailey is the most famous court room in the world, and the venue of some of the most sensational human dramas ever to be played out in a criminal trial. The principal criminal court of England, historically reserved for the more serious and high-profile trials, Court Number One opened its doors in 1907 after the building of the 'new' Old Bailey. In the decades that followed it witnessed the trials of the most famous and infamous defendants of the twentieth century. It was here that the likes of Madame Fahmy, Lord Haw Haw, John Christie, Ruth Ellis, George Blake (and his unlikely jailbreakers, Michael Randle and Pat Pottle), Jeremy Thorpe and Ian Huntley were defined in history, alongside a wide assortment of other traitors, lovers, politicians, psychopaths, spies, con men and - of course - the innocent. Not only notorious for its murder trials, Court Number One recorded the changing face of modern British society, bearing witness to alternate attitudes to homosexuality, the death penalty, freedom of expression, insanity and the psychology of violence. Telling the stories of twelve of the most scandalous and celebrated cases across a radically shifting century, this book traces the evolving attitudes of Britain, the decline of a society built on deference and discretion, the tensions brought by a more permissive society and the rise of trial by mass media. - Publisher's website.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

9781473651616

438 p., 16 unnumbered pages of plates : ill. ; 25 cm