Cirrus@Austlit

'This is the story of two brilliant boys. Maxie Chester, who drowned in a deep ditch negligently left unfenced by Waverley Council and whose mother was traumatised by seeing his dead body brought to the surface. The other is Bert Evatt, genius son of a Maitland publican, who took all the honours the University of Sydney could bestow, became at 35 Australia’s youngest ever High Court judge and went on, at the end of the war, to help change the world. In 1939, Maxie’s miserable death intersected with “the Doc’s” intellectual power and compassion: his groundbreaking judgment opened the door to compensate all foreseeable victims of corporate carelessness.' (Introduction)

'In this witty, engrossing and sometimes poignant memoir, a sequel to his best-selling The Justice Game, Australia’s inimitable Geoffrey Robertson charts his progress from pimply state schoolboy to top Old Bailey barrister and thence onwards and upwards to a leading role in the struggle for human rights throughout the world.

'He wryly observes the absurdities of growing up as one of ‘Ming’s kids’; the passion of student protest in the sixties and his early crusades for ‘Down Under-dogs’, before leaving on a Rhodes Scholarship to combat the British establishment, with the help of John Mortimer of ‘Rumpole’ fame. There are dramatic accounts of fighting for lives on death rows, freeing dissidents and taking on tyrants, armed only with a unique mind and a passion for justice – on display whenever he boomeranged back to Australia to conduct Geoffrey Robertson’s Hypotheticals.

'His is an amazing life story of David and Goliath battles – riveting, laugh-out-loud tales filled with romance and danger, featuring a cast of characters ranging from General Pinochet to Pee-Wee Herman; from Malcolm Turnbull to Mike Tyson; from Nigella Lawson to Kathy Lette and Julian Assange. Throughout his exploits – recounted here with irreverent humour and dashes of true wisdom – Geoffrey Robertson has remained determinedly independent and his own man. He has also, in respect of human rights, changed the way we think. ' (Publication summary)

'Geoffrey Blainey is Australia’s happy historian. ‘Blame’ is not in his vocabulary and his hindsight points no fingers at the past. Thus our nation’s story is told congenially, in large typeface, without footnotes to trouble the ‘general reader’ to whom it is directed – the author’s trademark generalisations come with the authority of his age and his achievements. They are nicely, sometimes lyrically, expressed, as he tells two stories – triumphal (how the progeny of British convicts built a prosperous nation) and tragic (the despoliation and degradation of our indigenous people) without bothering too much about how they may have been causally related.' (Introduction)

'The passion and charisma Geoffrey Robertson is famous for from the television series Hypotheticals will grace the Hamer Hall stage in the world premiere of his live show Dreaming Too Loud.

'In a one night only event, Robertson will offer rare insights into the many iconic moments of his private and professional life, including an illustrious career of high-profile and controversial cases and tireless campaigning for international human rights.

'Some of his recent cases include the representation of Julian Assange in extradition proceedings in the UK, the representation of Armenia with barrister Amal Clooney at the European Court of Human Rights in the Perinçek v. Switzerland case as well as having been on several human rights missions on behalf of Amnesty International – there’s much to be seen, heard and learnt from this extraordinary man.

'With his trademark intelligence, humour and humanity, Geoffrey Robertson’s first one-man show will be a beguiling mix of gravitas and intellectual larrikinism - a rare opportunity to see the man on stage live as he has never been seen before.' (Production summary)

'Christopher Hitchens described Geoffrey Robertson as ‘the greatest living Australian' and the satirical magazine Private Eye calls him ‘an Australian who has had a vowel transplant'. Just before he was to cross-examine Princess Diana, the London Times complained that he was ‘anti-establishment, republican and Australian' - in ascending order of horror.

'Internationally recognised as one of the world's leading human rights lawyers and as an intellectual inspiration for the global justice movement, he regularly boomerangs back from leading Europe's largest civil liberties practice to the land of his birth and his youth. Just as his Hypotheticals dazzled television audiences, so the speeches and essays collected in this book provoke, disturb and entertain.

'Here you will find new heroes in our history, such as the schoolteacher who stopped Ned Kelly's planned terrorist atrocity at Glenrowan, and the squadron leader who led ‘the few' - the airmen who held the Japanese at bay after the fall of Singapore. There are insights into Australian education, the story of wrongly jailed Aboriginal mother Nancy Young, encounters with Vaclav Havel, Rupert Murdoch, Michael Kirby, John Mortimer and Julian Assange, the transcript of a previously banned Hypothetical, reflections on worldwide problems such as torture, terrorism and the Catholic church, and much else besides. With his trademark intelligence, humour and humanity, Robertson's expatriate (but not ex-patriot) vision picks the real winners and losers in the Australian race. ' (Publisher's blurb)

'Geoff Robertson was born in Australia, bu came to London in 1970. He made his name as the fearless defender of Oz magazine at the celebrated trial and went on to engage in some of the most newsworthy cases in recent history. He has defended John Stonehouse, Cynthia Payne, Salman Rushdie, Kate Adie, Arthur Scargill, Daniel Sullivan, Gay News, 'The Romans of Britain', 'Niggaz with Attitude', and a pair of foetal earrings. The book includes accounts of recent cases including the defence of a West London gym owner against the Prince of Wales, the Matrix Churchill affair, and the defence of the Guardian in the cash-for-questions affair. Hugely readable, funny, scandalous, revelator, this will become one of the great books about the law. ' (Publication summary)