This candidly written autobiography of Sir Michael Kerr chronicles the life of one of Britains most prominent judges of the 70s and 80s from his Continental childhood up to his career in the Court of Appeal and beyond. In the first part of his memoir,the author traces his family history and Germanic roots. His father, Alfred Kerr, was a well-known dramatic critic and essayist, whose writings were widely known throughout Germany from the turn of the century and have recently seen a resurrection, 50 years after his death, as related in the last chapter of the book. But because of the fame of his anti-Nazi writings and broadcasts, the Kerrs were forced to flee from Berlin as early as 3 March 1933, when Hitler came to power. The author and his sister Judith, later to become a famous author of childrens books, had a relatively happy cosmopolitan childhood in Zurich, Paris, Nice and ultimately England. But their parents lives remained on the edge of poverty and sometimes despair and there was never again a family home. The memoirs then tell of his years at Aldenham School and the beginnings of Cambridge, and of his assimilation into the English way of life. 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.

Table of Contents:
1 The beginning 2 My father and his family 3 My grandparents 4 My mother 5 My father’s work 6 My parents together 7 My sister 8 The early years 9 The twenties 10 Clouds 11 Flight 12 Switzerland 13 An interlude – “fast forward” 14 To France 15 Paris – the beginning 16 Lycee Michelet 17 The Fizaines (and others) 18 Paris – the second year 19 To Nice 20 Our parents in London 21 The end of the Lycee de Nice 22 The promised land 23 Aldenham 24 The first year 25 1937 26 1938–1939 27 The final end of Nice 28 The phoney war – Cambridge 29 The real war starts 30 Internment 31 Reactions 32 The Isle of Man 33 Release 34 Another interlude – “fast forward” 35 The Blitz – back to Aldenham – the RAF 36 Air Crew Cadet 37 Wings 38 Learning to teach flying 39 Flying instructor back in Cambridge 40 Twin engines 41 Joining a Wellington crew 42 612 Squadron 43 The war in Europe ends 44 Demobilisation 45 Post-war Cambridge 46 1946 47 1947 48 Michèle 49 Going to the Bar 50 My mother leaves 51 My father’s death 52 A postscript 53 Beginnings at the Bar 54 Marriage, etc 55 My mother in Germany 56 A painful family reunion 57 My mother’s death 58 End of a generation 59 The second half 60 The Junior Bar 61 Silk 62 Some highlights 63 Towards the end of the Bar 64 The Bench? 65 Life as a Judge 66 Separation 67 The Law Commission 68 Diana 69 The Court of Appeal 70 Disappointments 71 A new profession 72 A resurrection