622 THE ADVOCATE
VOL. 79 PART 4 JULY 2021
regalia, long wig included—Lord Denning. I was less than five feet from
him. A London policeman, his sleeves rolled up to the elbows, followed
behind.
“Lord Denning,” I called, with the same awe in my voice as if it had been
Guy Lafleur or Ilie Nastase or Stevie Nicks.
“Yes, yes,” he turned and looked at me, “and how are you today?”
“Great, sir,” I stated, with my heart now really racing.
“I see you have my book.” He nodded at my possessions.
By now I had recovered a little aplomb and blurted out, “Yes sir, would
you like to autograph it? I’m a law student at Cardiff.”
I passed him my ballpoint pen and then opened the book. Without hesitation,
standing in the sunlight of a beautiful July day on the pavement
right beside Lincoln’s Inn field, Lord Denning M.R. asked for my name and
then proceeded to write on the title page:
Geoff Thomas
with best wishes
Denning M.R.
July, 1979
He handed me the pen, looked at me with his piercing sky-blue eyes and
said, “Come and see me in my chambers next time you are here.”
Once again, my heart started racing—Lord Denning had asked me to visit
him! Was I losing my hearing … or some other sense?
“Are you serious?” I gulped out. As the policeman opened the door for
Lord Denning to enter I noticed he had a broad smile on his face, having
witnessed our whole encounter.
“Please,” said the great man.
I was floored and stood there in the entrance. I looked at the page again.
I was not dreaming. Lord Denning had autographed my book and asked me
to visit him! There I was in full student dress, blue jeans, T-shirt and leather
jacket, totally stunned and shaking my head.
The next few months surged by. We commenced Michaelmas term in
October at Cardiff and by then I had told all of my roommates (all fellow
Canadian law students), all of my classmates and all of my professors about
Denning. I had the proof, and everybody I knew was amazed at my good
luck, even the professors. “That friendly colonial has done it again,” was the
staff-room comment most often heard.
The next thing I knew was that everyone began giving me Denning’s
books to be autographed for wedding and birthday presents and the like.
Maybe that is why Denning saw me three times over the following six
months in his chambers! I was helping him sell his books!