TV Rinder’s case history
QUESTION Did TV’s Judge Rinder achieve anything of note as a barrister?
ROBERT RINDER, aka Judge Rinder from the Itv daytime court show, isn’t a judge at all. He is a practising barrister, a member of the prestigious 2 Hare Court Chambers. Called to the bar in 2001, he specialised in crime, but today his practice focuses on financial crime.
Rinder, who gained a first-class honours degree at Manchester University (where he became good friends with actor benedict Cumberbatch), has been involved in a string of high-profile fraud and criminal cases, including the manslaughter of detainees in Iraq by british servicemen.
His best-known case was in 2005, when he appeared as the junior barrister defending Jermain Carty, alleged target for the New Year gangland shootings of teenagers Charlene ellis and Letisha Shakespeare in 2003.
Carty was alleged to have provoked the notorious burger bar boys by waving a gun about and singing the praises of the rival Johnson Crew. Rinder helped clear Carty of a firearms charge related to the incident. Four members of the burger bar boys were imprisoned for murder.
In 2008, Carty was sentenced to 14 years for attempted murder. He was already serving seven years for dealing cocaine.
Since 2010, and while maintaining his UK practice, Rinder has been instructed by HM Government as counsel to the turks and Caicos Islands’ Special Investigation and Prosecution team, established by the Foreign and Commonwealth office, to prosecute allegations of bribery, international corruption and fraud.
Sarah Westwood, Birmingham.
QUESTION When did the expression ‘everything but/bar the kitchen sink’ come into existence?
ACCORDING to the oxford english Dictionary, this was World War II Forces’ slang to describe the weaponry used during intense bombardment. In fact, its use long predated this, and the phrase appears to have originated in the U.S. the earliest reference is from the July 10, 1911, edition of the Winnipeg tribune, which published the description by a New Yorker of a meal he had at the house of a Russian princess: ‘First of all we had caviar. It was the real imported article, and it tasted not unlike bird shot pickled in hair oil.
‘With the aid of a white dinner wine (also imported), I was able to wash down the first course without much of a struggle.
‘the next course was more difficult. A thick, sour soup, and I am sure it had everything in it but the kitchen sink.’
the ‘ kitchen sink’ phrase is an adaptation of an earlier ‘everything but the stove’ or ‘everything but the kitchen stove’. An example of this is seen in the Jeffersonville National Democrat, 1894: ‘I sold the chicken and got a dollar for them . . . I got everything but the stove.’
J. Gore, Lowestoft, Suffolk.
QUESTION Is there evidence that classical music was once played at a much faster tempo than it is today?
YES, for a variety of reasons. the earliest forms of music, such as plainsong (or plainchant), did not have any indicated performing style or speed. Modern interpreters must take their guidance from the fact it was used for church services.
When music began to be composed for pleasure, it took its cue from the rhythms of country dances, and performances were guided by the style of the dance, such as the gavotte, a medium-paced French dance, or the minuet, a slow, stately ballroom dance.
In the 19th century when composers wanted a more disciplined approach, they marked movements and pieces with Italian words of description.
However, one man’s largo, meaning broad, might be another’s larghetto, a little broad. then there is andante, walking pace; andantino, slightly faster; and
andante moderato, which perhaps means something in between. this is muddied by composers adding ma non troppo — but not too much. So
andantino ma non troppo means slightly, but not too much, faster than walking pace — whatever that means!
With the advent of recording, speeds were increased to fit pieces onto a single side of a 78 rpm record.
A typical example of how speeds have changed is the adagietto (meaning slowly) from Mahler’s fifth symphony. For years it was performed as a dirge, a funeral piece — no doubt informed by the film Death In Venice. In fact, it is a joyous love letter from Mahler to his wife, Alma.
You can hear examples of different performing speeds on Bbc Radio three’s building A Library, where one performer or conductor can take a full three minutes longer or shorter to perform a particular movement than a recording by another musician.
Edward Baker, Tunbridge Wells, Kent.
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