THIS is the tale of two men who set out in life as both friends and barristers – one ends up as one of the highest judges in the land, Lord Justice Sedley, the other a successful and happy publisher, Michael Chambers.
I caught a flavour of this entrancing story as I entered a drinks party held to launch an exhibition of Soviet art at a Spitalsfield gallery on Tuesday evening.
A bit late for the party I caught the familiar face of Stephen Sedley who lives in Kentish Town.
Heading for the door, he pre-empted any questions with a smile. “Michael and I were in the same chambers,” he said, “We started out at the bar together.”
An exuberant Michael Chambers later explained that both he and Stephen Sedley were colleagues as barristers in the same chambers in 1966. Sedley stayed on – and climbed high in the law.
Michael got tired of the law after three years and started his own publishing firm
In a little office behind the gallery he showed me his firm’s latest publications – large hard-backed directories giving a kind of league table of the best lawyers for each specialism of the law. The books cost several hundred pounds and are bought by businesses.
“After three years at the bar,” he told me, “I felt I couldn’t face doing the same thing year after year. There’s a close comradeship among lawyers, they are witty and sharp, but that wasn’t enough for me.
“So, without any capital, I published re-prints at first, and then made a hit with my first book in the early 1970s – If They Come in the Morning, a biography by the US black radical Angela Davis who was in jail at the time. It sold 100,000 in the UK – a great success.”
He said: “If you’re any good as a lawyer you can end up in the House of Lords. And judges, by the way, can have a long lifespan. But I didn’t want the law.”
Presumably, Michael, who lives in Regent’s Park – a man who is sharp, focused and astute – could have ended up in the Lords, too.
I have often come across men who have slaved away for decades at the bar, and it shows – lined faces, slightly stooped backs, a grey look about them. Maybe Michael got off best – a man in his early 60s, he looks much younger than his age.

A first class take on Noel

Michael Paine at paino and, inset, Noel Coward

I WALKED past St Mary’s Church in Elsworthy Road, Primrose Hill, a few days ago and heard the unmistakeable voice of Noel Coward wafting through the vestry.
So I stuck my head through the door, curious to know who would be playing a recording of Mad Dogs And Englishmen before breakfast.
To my surprise, I saw the assistant curate Paul Nicholson at the piano, accompanying the great man himself – or someone who looked remarkably like him.
The man in question was Michael Paine, a retired insurance broker who now spends his time as a professional singer, capitalising on his musical ability and uncanny resemblance to the archetypal Englishman.
I discovered he was rehearsing a one-off show called A first class life: the words, wit and wisdom of Noel Coward to raise funds to help with the restoration of the Victorian church. He told me he started singing in earnest while studying at Cambridge in 1959. “I did more music than reading, and have been a keen amateur musician all my life,” he said.
It was a gig he managed to wangle at the Reform Club in 1999 that sent him down the current career path of being a Stars In Their Eyes version of Britain’s answer to George Gershwin.
“It really went on from there,” he says. “I now do it just about full time.”
And it’s helped by the fact he has always loved his music, which he was brought up on as a young boy by a father who was fascinated by Coward’s work.
• For tickets for the show on Friday June 17 starting at 7pm, call Lynne on 020 7586 3240 or Mary 020 7586 7329.

Joan will be greatly missed

I AM sad to hear of the tragic death of Joan Abse biographer wife of the poet and novelist Dannie Abse whom I have known for several years.
Joan was killed in a car crash on Monday as the couple were returning from a poetry reading in Wales. Dannie, 81, (pictured) suffered a fractured rib and facial injuries but was discharged from hospital.
I often met the couple at Dannie’s book launches – he was a prolific writer – and they were clearly devoted to each other.
Joan married Dannie in 1951 when he lived in Belsize Park and had just graduated as a medical student.
A fine writer herself Joan formed a heavenly partnership with Dannie who, after he retired from medical practice, settled in Golders Green and wrote prodigiously – poems, novels and plays.