Singing for Safety

As the Rwanda Bill gets its second reading in the House of Lords, a new generation of the family of David Maxwell Fyfe, the ECHR’s British artisan, set out their plans to sing for safety.

Since Magna Carta Day June 15th 2022 we have maintained an intermittent programme of protest in support of the ECHR and against the stripping of rights from refugees in exiling them to Rwanda without hearing. Although this government has constantly trimmed rights and freedoms, it is the Rwanda policy that seeks to undermine international law and rules through confrontation and cruelty. We stand by the Convention and the protection that it affords.

In July 1957 when David Maxwell Fyfe welcomed the American Bar Association visiting London to dedicate their temple to Magna Carta at Runnymede, he plundered the WB Yeats poem, The Second Coming in his speech before the poem had achieved widespread popularity, introducing it with these words:

The house that we thought to be empty, swept and garnished, was entered by seven other devils more wicked, and the last state of man appeared indeed worse than the first. In those times many felt with the great Irish poet that:

‘The best lacked all conviction, whilst the worst/Are full of passionate intensity’

In this situation some lost their nerve and in the years of tyranny that seemed to have been loosed upon the world took comfort in doctrines that exalted authority.

For Maxwell Fyfe this phrase captured the condition of a political class across Europe which had enabled dictators to take power after the horror of the First World War. Of course, his words resonate today. 

The debate on the Safety of Rwanda Bill  in the House of Commons was characterised by a display of ‘passionate intensity’ and twilight rage as the right wing of the Conservative Party debated amongst themselves how much more they would like to do to rip away the rights of refugees. 

The opposition focused on seven measures of practicality but, bar an exceptional few, lacked the conviction necessary for vigorous debate.

The government employed rigorous claims of fair play and reasonableness to hide a loss of nerve which lets in the devils of authoritarianism and tyranny. Whether this is because they have made a trade with the ‘rough beast’ that ‘slouches’ towards us, or they can’t think of anything else to do, they look driven by fear and not conviction.

They do not make us feel safe. We must look to other ways to protect our rights and freedoms.

With Maxwell Fyfe we look for it in the words of Rupert Brooke.

We have found safety that’s not for Time’s throwing,
We have found safety, blest security, Who is so safe as we?

We’ve chosen just one of the songs from our song cycle for people to sing with us – Safety – as David Maxwell Fyfe described the ECHR as ‘a simple, safe, insurance policy’ which has now resulted in 70 years of peace. It was written for International Human Rights Day a decade ago and is a musical setting of words of Rupert Brooke, an inspiration to Fyfe, whose sonnet The Soldier he quoted in his famous closing speech at the Nuremberg Trials.

In Safety we sing the words of Rupert Brooke yearning for lost values as he prepared to fight for them and ultimately lose his life in the First World War. He finds safety in the elemental patterns of nature. The song is woven around Maxwell Fyfe’s words, written as he found his passion for human rights embedded in the law of nature that he had uncovered from ancient times.

We tie this song to Article 5 of the Convention – the right to liberty and security – and David’s first observations on human rights as he worked on early drafts of the Convention in London. From the beginning the restoration of these lost rights and freedoms across Europe created friction – as it does today.

Safety is an important word, reliant finally on feeling our place in the natural order of things. We only feel safe when things are right.

It doesn’t matter whether or not Rwanda is safe, when the act of sending refugees to Rwanda strips them of their human rights and shatters our common law.  Magna Carta states,

No free man shall be seized or imprisoned, or stripped of his rights or possessions, or outlawed or exiled except by the lawful judgment of his equals or by the law of the land.

Their exile is unsafe, the newly created law of the land stands firms against 8 centuries of precedence. The Convention spells that out clearly and stands in the way of the government’s action. And we stand by the Convention which protects the rights and freedoms of us all.

Sing with us by visiting our website – songsofthepeople.co.uk

David Maxwell Fyfe : A Maker of the Modern World

As we commemorate the anniversary of the signing of the ECHR, English Cabaret explores the significance of including a portrait of its British midwife in the National Portrait Gallery’s new exhibition in the Duveen Wing and Ondaatje Wing.

In a gallery devoted to Making the Modern World, Harold Knight’s portrait of David Maxwell Fyfe stands out. 

On the back wall of Room 28 in the National Portrait Gallery’s new exhibition in the Duveen Wing and Ondaatje Wing, he is hung above philosopher and novelist Iris Murdoch. Two portraits – of actress Jean Simmons and artist Chris Ofili, separate him from a striking portrait of dancer and choreographer Pandit Ram Gopal by Feliks Topolski, who was with him at Nuremberg – as was Laura Knight, distinguished wife of his portrait painter, Harold.

He is in diverse and illustrious company. Nearby are pictures of theoretical physicist and cosmologist Stephen Hawking, poet Philip Larkin, trail blazing business woman and champion of rights for women Caroline Haslett, composer Ralph Vaughan Williams, and comic actor Sid James. He overlooks the head of colourful designer Zandra Rhodes, and is adjacent to the portrait of Diana Princess of Wales. In this popular gallery, eyes are drawn to him beyond bronze busts of the writer and social commentator JB Priestly, and tennis player Virginia Wade.

Many of his companion pieces offer a modern take on portraiture, but Harold Knight’s picture is a rigid evocation of Fyfe as Lord Chancellor sporting full regalia. He looks sternly from the corner of the room next to the exit that leads towards other rooms full of distinguished figures from the more distant past where you might perhaps have expected to find him.

So why is he in amongst those who are not just part of the historical fabric, but have been chosen for what the Gallery itself calls their ‘transformative’ powers in making Britain what it is today? 

He is there because of what The Scotsman calls ‘his remarkable legal legacy’, for in many ways we live in the world he created.

As a prosecutor at the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials he contributed to the establishment of international criminal justice – capable of bringing to account those in the world guilty of war crimes and crimes against peace and humanity. 

And learning lessons from Nuremberg, working alongside Winston Churchill who also makes an appearance in this gallery in a portrait by Graham Sutherland, he championed and drafted the European Convention on Human Rights.

In his review of Dreams of Peace & Freedom, the song cycle inspired by his journey from Nuremberg to Strasbourg, Thos Ribbits called him

‘a man who can genuinely lay a claim to being one of the architects of freedom and liberty for the post-war world in which we are still living.’

Or as Sadiq Khan, when a labour MP wrote of him,

‘in devising the European Convention on Human Rights, he created something that still has a positive impact on our everyday lives’.

The New Statesman, The Left’s Favourite Tories 6/10/11

The ECHR was a foundation for evolving equality and many of the freedoms that are joyfully expressed in this room, although Maxwell Fyfe himself may have resisted and delayed a number of those changes when returned to power. He described himself as a Victorian – like so many of the eminent faces in neighbouring rooms.  

But he understood law to be a ‘living thing’ that properly nurtured would grow and flourish to the benefit of all. And the Convention is one such piece of law. 

There are a number of existing artistic representations of David Maxwell Fyfe, including portraits at Gray’s Inn in London, and in the collections of St Anthony and Balliol Colleges, Oxford. His likeness hangs in the House of Lords as Earl Kilmuir of Creich in the County of Sutherland, a title he took in 1954. But nowhere is his relevance to today more striking than in this present position. Works in this gallery will change on a regular basis, but the inclusion of Knight’s portrait here recognises the modern contribution his work at Nuremberg and subsequently in crafting the ECHR has made. Their impact continues to shape the world we live in today. 

Discover more about the exhibition – https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/location/1051

Read more about the portrait – https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw285766/David-Patrick-Maxwell-Fyfe-Earl-of-Kilmuir?locid=1051&rNo=10

Are you a religious movement?

During 2015, when MagnaCarta800 coincided with ECHR65, English Cabaret performed a series of performances of Dreams of Peace & Freedom to highlight the history of our rights and freedoms. What happened next came as something of a surprise. Composer Sue Casson explores the beginnings of our beautiful protest.

Dreams of Peace & Freedom tells the story of the birth of human rights through the eyes of David Maxwell Fyfe, who, after confronting evidence of Nazi war crimes at the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials as a British prosecutor, became a champion and artisan of the Convention on Human Rights, ‘a simple, safe insurance policy’ against such crimes happening again.

Weaving his words with musical settings of poetry that inspired him ‘in an
‘engaging and creative way‘ as one audience member put it, our performances, amongst other things show the relationship between Magna Carta, the first written charter of rights, and the ECHR, the local instrument of the Universal
Declaration, which Eleanor Roosevelt called the International Magna  Carta. 

Poet Rupert Brooke was a great favourite of Maxwell Fyfe and is our primary lyricist. So, one of the performances was as part of the annual celebration of the Dymock poets, of whom Brooke was one. Unexpectedly, our musical performance of his words met with resistance. One of the attendees asked us after the performance whether we were a religious movement? 

At the time, unaware of the way the wind was blowing, we shrugged it off as a misunderstanding. After all, the piece was inspired by the sound created by the Girls Choir at Southwark Cathedral, and so its atmosphere is well suited to a church.

At the time, unaware of the way the wind was blowing, we shrugged it off as
a misunderstanding. After all, the piece was inspired by the sound created by
the Girls Choir at Southwark Cathedral, its atmosphere well suited to the echoes
of a church, and what is religion but belief in the ‘deeper magic’ behind
spiritual values?

‘Tolerance, decency, kindliness’

David Maxwell Fyfe’s closing at the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials

These were the qualities for which Maxwell Fyfe was searching ‘for what we might wish to see in place of the Nazi spirit,’ and he set about enshrining these in law at Strasbourg. And our musical forgotten history even has a happy ending, in the shape of 65 years uninterrupted by war
in Western Europe.

But this performance turned out to be an early indication of what was just around the corner, as the country grew more suspicious of the value of a convention that threatens governmental sovereignty. Seven difficult and divisive years on, the political landscape has made this story controversial, as Mountfield observed after a recent performance at the Bonavero Institute for Human Rights.

‘What began as a celebration is now a call to arms.’

Helen Mountfield, Principal Mansfield College, Oxford

When we sang in Gloucestershire we never imagined a need to convert sceptics. Now we know there is, we’re not so sure our fervour for once indisputable positive values, including the pre-eminence of the rule of law, doesn’t smack of a religion after all. The message it seems can go unheard, or be dismissed as a relic from another, different age.

‘We cannot persist with a system that was designed for a different era’

Rishi Sunak, Prime Minister

Yet we continue to sing, even if just now it feels as if fewer people are listening. Our still, small voice of protest is easily drowned out by shouting. But like the Evensong that inspired it, the power of which is never diminished by a less than full house, we are there to keep ‘the faith of a lawyer’ alive. In its’ reflective nature lies its power, for it makes a virtue of humanity itself, that has always expressed itself through music, poetry and imagery.

By now we’re familiar with the silence that falls when there is debate about
Britain remaining a signatory’ to ECHR – for believers its’ the silence of
complacency, that the worst won’t happen, or fear at speaking out in case it
prompts unwelcome controversy. For non-believers, it’s a refusal to acknowledge that leaving the Convention when we are part of Europe, leaves us the only other country outside it bar Russia and Belarus. Do we want to ‘convert’ them with our evangelical zeal? Well actually, yes.

As the Council of Europe prepares to ‘renew the conscience of Europe ‘ in May, we offer our song cycle to tell the forgotten history of our rights and freedoms in an inspiring way. Whether performances fall under mystery, morality, citizenship or entertainment, like any parable, it’s a story that we believe should be told – and shared.

Watch the video of our beautiful protest here.

Discover our Charters of Freedom Linktree here.

Day 13 | Filling the Silence

Just after the end of our festival run of Dreams of Peace & Freedom last week, we had the opportunity to finally perform in the majestic setting of St Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral. It was a performance that had to be postponed when we were touring to ‘fill the silence’ in support of Justice for Ukraine in May this year and it provided a magical ending to our Edinburgh experience.

At this year’s Grammys, President Zelenksyy asked the world to

‘fill the silence with your music’

Ukrainian President Zelenksyy’s speech at the Grammys 2022

We were moved to answer his call with a series of small scale performances.

As a member of our audience recently said, ‘music is healing’ and it would be right to metaphorically fill the silent streets of Ukraine with the music of an elegy – for lives lost, for freedom and values being swept away. Music and singing are the most human of expressions – a sharp contrast to the inhumanity of warfare and destruction. They are the voice of life continuing in all its’ beauty, despite the present ugliness and purposely inflicted pain. Music drifting through those desolate bombed streets also shows the power of the human spirit to survive. It will not be quashed. In the wasteland there will be inspiration and finer feelings, and hope once more.

For the crime of aggression against his country, the Ukrainian president has called for a special tribunal for President Putin and the Russian military ‘similar to the Nuremberg tribunal’. As a leading British prosecutor there, David Maxwell Fyfe played a notable part in that first war crimes trial. Our performances tells the story of how it came about through his eyes, at the same time showing that justice has been done – and can be done again. It reinforces the idea that there can be no real peace without justice.

The Nuremberg Charter, the result of discussion by 4 allied nations after WWII established a procedure for trying war criminals. It was the first of its’ kind, and sought, by the sovereignty of the rule of law to bring order out of the chaos and bloodshed of WWII. It is one of the charters in our Magna Carta Progress Linktree.

This is what we wish for Ukraine – a return to civilization and everyday life after the fear. But the war isn’t over yet and we need to keep filling the silence. The silence that descends after the news crews from around the world move on and the headlines are grabbed by disasters elsewhere.

Justice for Ukraine will continue to be a cause we support alongside HMDT and those presently defending our rights in this country. We hope that by telling our story we will shine a spotlight on issues with which it chimes, keeping the history alive in the collective memory to ensure its’ significance is never overlooked, and inspires a brighter future.

Sign the petition and find out more about Justice for Ukraine at https://justice-for-ukraine.com/

Discover the what, why and how of the ECHR through the eyes of David Maxwell Fyfe at thehumansinthetelling.org

Day 12 | #HumanRightsAnotherStory

Each evening, an hour before Dreams of Peace & Freedom starts at C Cubed – which is the Celtic Masonic Lodge in Brodie’s Close transformed for the festival – we stand bearing leaflets to try to entice in passing trade. Last weekend, a local couple exploring the network of courts and wynds off Lawnmarket made their way into our close in search of seeing another side to the city in which they lived – and a story before their supper.

So much of the theatre in Edinburgh in summer is a matter of happenstance – ‘we’d like to see a show around 7,’ ‘we’d like it to be in this area of town’ ‘we’re in the mood for a story’ and having not found what they were looking for at the Storytelling Centre in Netherbow, they were delighted to have stumbled across what they wanted whilst apparently doing something else.

The story we are telling this summer is a peaceful and reflective antidote to the raging noise of political chaos that is grinding on in the background. The streets of Edinburgh may be strewn with uncollected rubbish because of another pay dispute, but away from it all inside the safe haven of the Celtic Lodge, audiences have been able to find a moment of distracting calm with a performance they unexpectedly find

‘moving and astoundingly beautiful.’

Melvyn Roffe, Principal of George Watson’s College, Edinburgh

It isn’t just that it is

‘Sung beautifully…The cycle draws throughout on the poems of the “English Adonis”, (Rupert Brooke) who had inspired Fyfe… his poetry blooms.’

Kapil Summan – Swansong for the Convention – Scottish Legal News

But what has entranced audiences is that this story of world events that happened after WWII is brought to life by a series of letters exchanged by a couple whilst they were happening, with one of the couple right at the centre of things. It’s a very human story – which is of course the central idea behind ‘the humans in the telling’ project. The personal focus offers a very intimate perspective to what could be a dry historical narrative, and the letters themselves have a period charm that has been much enjoyed. The manner of the telling is something that students of law and those ignorant of these events alike have picked out as particularly striking.

Others have mentioned how seeing a story spotlighting those who have a part to play in history reminds them that history is made by people just like them. This is reinforced by the knowledge that our Edinburgh performances are a passing on of our own family history. Those who have enjoyed our recordings and films online have described how seeing Maxwell Fyfe’s family telling his story in a small venue feels like a very special event. We have been surprised how this has touched audiences.

‘a topical and heartwarming performance about the creation of human rights featuring a mini choir and archive footage. I highly recommend it.’

Jonathan Esk-Riddell on Twitter

With the prevailing government narrative seeking to dehumanise immigrants to solve a political headache the idea behind our #HumanRightsAnotherStory hashtag is a powerful and important one. We are all human, we all have rights, and our own stories. If both teachers and students leave our show enquiring about our Magna Carta Linktree of charters and stressing to us the importance of young people knowing their rights and this history, our 3 weeks in Edinburgh have been thoroughly well spent.

SUPPORT US ON OUR PROGRESS AT CROWDFUNDER.CO.UK/MAGNA-CARTA-PROGRESS

Discover the what, why and how of the ECHR through the eyes of David Maxwell Fyfe at thehumansinthetelling.org

Day 11 | Edinburgh in the spirit of the 8

There is an unexpected link between the Nuremberg Trials and the first Edinburgh Festival, which is celebrating its’ 75th anniversary this summer. While WWII was still raging, discussions were underway to plan for peace. In Edinburgh they discussed a festival, whilst in London, David Maxwell Fyfe, one of Edinburgh’s sons, lead a committee that looked at what was to be done with leading Nazis when war was over. The plans for the festival were made public on November 24th 1945, 4 days after the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials opened, where Fyfe was a leading prosecutor.

Rebecca West, like Fyfe an alumnus of Edinburgh’s George Watsons College, reported her impressions from the Nuremberg Trials, and in 1946 described in The New Yorker how the trials represented the running down of the ‘war machine’ ‘by which mankind had defended its’ life’ to be replaced by a ‘peace machine, by which mankind intends to live its’ life’ warming up.

The festival in Edinburgh with its’ celebration of international arts was a vivid expression of this peace machine.

In 1947 John Falconer, the Lord Provost wrote that he hoped the new festival would give audiences:

‘a sense of peace and inspiration with which to refresh their souls and reaffirm their belief in things other than the material’

John Falconer, Lord Provost

In 1947, 8 groups came to perform uninvited at the new international festival, sharing their arts in an impromptu outpouring of the joy at being able after the silencing years of war. They inspired today’s Festival Fringe. We have come in their shadow this year, to emphasise the shared history of our stories.

In the last 75 years of peace the Fringe has grown to become the largest celebration of arts in the world, but is it simply too big and unmanageable, or financially unsustainable?

Following two years of pandemic silence, the Fringe has been forced to recalibrate, and as it becomes more managed and curated, and tied to big tech it moves inevitably away from the founders principles of inclusivity, which were not primarily about money.

Speaking to Ed Morrow on CBS for his programme ‘This I believe’ in the early 1950s, David Maxwell Fyfe outlined his personal credo and what he believed his ‘most important task’ was in the time left to him.

‘namely to try to secure that in the second half of our mad century the spiritual stature of mankind will approximate to his material and scientific advances.’

David Maxwell Fyfe

If he were able to be here now, would he have felt that he succeeded?

SUPPORT US ON OUR PROGRESS AT CROWDFUNDER.CO.UK/MAGNA-CARTA-PROGRESS

Discover the what, why and how of the ECHR through the eyes of David Maxwell Fyfe at thehumansinthetelling.org

Day 10 | The Law of Nature

As we walk into our venue from our digs in Lauriston Place each day on our way to the Grassmarket we pass an eye-catching garden cut into a steep slope. Beautifully tended and abundantly green it stands out in stark contrast to the looming buildings all around. A board behind railings explains its’ history.

The garden was opened in 1910 as a facility for what were then the slums of the surrounding area. The brainchild of Patrick Geddes (who has a set of steps named after him that complete our walk up to the Royal Mile), the garden was designed to have

‘a humanizing effect on the poor little waifs of the slums who had never seen a plant grow.’

Open Spaces Committee

The garden we pass was originally designed by Geddes’ daughter Norah and was open during daylight hours May to September for children to get some fresh air, play, and immerse themselves in nature. It’s now in the hands of a local community group who have committed themselves to the founder’s principles of using the space to learn about and care for the environment, grow food and brighten up the street. ‘A haven to sit and chat or just to daydream ‘ as they describe it. It remains a green heart in a densely populated city.

There is a deep connection between the natural world and its’ positive effect on those who inhabit it, which is becoming more widely recognised. David Maxwell Fyfe believed in law as ‘a lively natural force’ in its own right, distinct from the framework of law created by governments. For this reason he saw the need for laws to be as adaptable as nature, ‘not static’ but with the ability to respond to emerging circumstances. Like the ancient Greeks he studied at University, he saw natural law equating with ‘the best side of human nature and an expression of the highest reason of mankind.’ As Geddes recognised, nature brings out the best qualities in humanity – nurturing, reflection, respect and care for the environment, which naturally spills into our behaviour towards others.

We close Dreams of Peace & Freedom with Maxwell Fyfe’s description of the mutability of law in a speech to the American Bar Association in 1957. He uses the greenest of analogies:

‘Their roots, well grounded in history and watered by wisdom are constantly putting out fresh branches and leaves for the comfort of all people.’

David Maxwell Fyfe, Speech to ABA 1957

Rather like the the community garden in West Port.

SUPPORT US ON OUR PROGRESS AT CROWDFUNDER.CO.UK/MAGNA-CARTA-PROGRESS

Discover the what, why and how of the ECHR through the eyes of David Maxwell Fyfe at thehumansinthetelling.org

Day 9 | Our show in pictures

The stage is set at C Cubed on the Royal Mile

Members of the family of David Maxwell Fyfe perform Magna Carta

Robert Blackmore reads a letter his great grandfather sent to his wife during his early days at Nuremberg

Whilst he’s away, his wife Sylvia played by Lily Casson takes care of his constituency business in Liverpool

Sylvia and David Maxwell Fyfe pictured at the War Crimes Trials in Nuremberg 1946, flanked by their great grandchildren.

Robert performs the final segment of David Maxwell Fyfe’s closing speech at Nuremberg, alongside archive film of his great grandfather.

‘We have found safety with all things undying…Who is so safe as we?’ Lily and Sue Casson introduce the part of the show that tells the history of the ECHR

If you’re in Edinburgh, come and see Dreams of Peace & Freedom played every evening at C Cubed at 19:10!

Tickets are pay what you can starting at £4.50. Find out more and book tickets here.

SUPPORT US ON OUR PROGRESS AT CROWDFUNDER.CO.UK/MAGNA-CARTA-PROGRESS

Discover the what, why and how of the ECHR through the eyes of David Maxwell Fyfe at thehumansinthetelling.org

Day 8 | The Technical Tightrope

Just like the world of books, the theatreworld has its own sensitivity about ‘the second’ night. First nights can be disastrous of course, and now shows in the commercial theatre are so technically ambitious this has been side-stepped by a week or possibly more of previews, which allow everything that can go wrong to go wrong and be put right before the show opens and the critics come. 

On the fringe (or just off it as we are this year) this is a luxury only dreamed of. The constrictions of the schedule allow for just 5 minutes to get everything ready for the show, and similar time at the end of the show to take it all away again for the next one in. Our show is not prop or costume heavy, but we need to make sure the microphone is working and in the right place, ensure the calico screen, normally hidden behind black drapes is hanging neatly, and that the powerpoint presentation that accompanies our show is visible onscreen, set up, and ready to go.  

Given that we did the technical rehearsal in this space for the first time on the day we arrived, and since then the schedule has only allowed for a run of the show once each day at showtime during the dress rehearsal and the first performance, it’s perhaps not surprising that the second night produced a series of technical hitches. Film and sound are an integral part of our show, so without them we can’t begin. Luckily, with a little extra time the sound issues were resolved, and we only went up 5 minutes late.

We might take this technology for granted now, but 75 years ago the proceedings at the Nuremberg Trials were not only preserved as a written record, but ambitiously for the times, as a full audio recording and film. As the first trial of war criminals every mounted, it was felt that it must be preserved as entirely as possible for future generations. Each record ensured that all the evidence of atrocities could not be forgotten but were part of history, and being able to see and hear it was part of keeping it alive.

However, capturing the proceedings in this way was not straightforward. To enable the court to run smoothly a team of translators behind glass screens (which we see on the archive film) provided simultaneous translation. Defendants and prosecutors wore headphones to understand one another, and it is suggested that Robert Jackson, the American prosecutor found the time lag difficult to accommodate which ultimately interfered with the effectiveness of his cross-examination.

The complete audio of the trial, with hiss and fuzz removed by United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) for clear sound quality is now freely available online. The film record is more intermittent. In our presentation it’s easy to see the challenges of working with only one camera shifting focus from defendant to prosecutor, and there are missing moments while the cameraman changes the reel of film. But it remains chilling, to be able to see Hermann Goering, responsible for so many deaths, and hear the style of his defence. The flickering black and white images may lend some distance, but it is difficult even now to deny their power.

Despite the odd technical hiccup – in the present and in the past- the most important thing is that these stories continue to be shown so they continue to occupy collective memory to try and ensure the horrific events that took place can never happen again.

SUPPORT US ON OUR PROGRESS AT CROWDFUNDER.CO.UK/MAGNA-CARTA-PROGRESS

Discover the what, why and how of the ECHR through the eyes of David Maxwell Fyfe at thehumansinthetelling.org

Day 7 | The Light of the Past

Walter Scott, the Edinburgh born 18^th century writer of Ivanhoe and Rob Roy, remains a towering presence in the city even 200 years later. This is at least in part due to the huge Scott monument which looms over Princes Street from the Gardens. Arrivals to the city by train stream into the Waverley Station, named after his novel series, and he has inspired a society which is named in his honour, the Walter Scott Club, one of the world’s most prestigious literary societies.

David Maxwell Fyfe was president of this club in 1956 and was a lifelong admirer of Scott’s novels, his childhood steeped in his works. Perhaps it is no coincidence that Fyfe followed in his footsteps, studying Classics at University and forging a career in the legal profession. Coincidentally Scott was also a member of the Tory establishment.

In a speech to the Club, which Tom Blackmore recently came across in the course of his research into his grandfather, Maxwell Fyfe observes :

‘For better or for worse we as a people have a present sense of history…’

David Maxwell Fyfe, Speech to Walter Scott Club 1957

Surrounded by the tall tenements of the old town, ‘the cobbled alleyways’ and the seemingly ever-present view of the majestic castle high on a hill at the top of the Royal Mile, its easy to see how past and present could easily sit side by side in the minds of the city’s inhabitants. The past is a constant presence. The darkened stone bears witness to age and there are plaques scattered across walls proclaiming previous famous city dwellers.

Our show is playing off a court named after Deacon Brodie, whose story may have inspired Robert Louis Stevenson’s Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde and across the road there is a writer’s museum, situated in a court with links to Scotland’s noted poet Robert Burns. In this sense, ‘the past is always with us’ and also perhaps more metaphorically speaking, as Fyfe went on to explain in the same speech.

‘You cannot understand the present except in the light of the past’

David Maxwell Fyfe, Speech to Walter Scott Club 1957

Or as George Santanyana put it ‘those who cannot remember the past are doomed to repeat it’.

This year, with our show Dreams of Peace & Freedom on our Magna Carta Progress, we are awakening the memory of the past to inform and inspire our future. Visitors to the show have commented on how chillingly the story we tell chimes with the political situation that is unfolding now. As we open at C Cubed tonight, history is peeking over our shoulder.

SUPPORT US ON OUR PROGRESS AT CROWDFUNDER.CO.UK/MAGNA-CARTA-PROGRESS

Discover the what, why and how of the ECHR through the eyes of David Maxwell Fyfe at thehumansinthetelling.org