- Hardcover: 342 pages
- Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton Ltd (24 Jan 2002)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0340820985
- ISBN-13: 978-0340820988
- Product Dimensions: 23.4 x 16 x 3.6 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
31,965 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #6 in Books > Biography > Medical, Legal & Social Sciences > Legal
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
It is quoted in No Ordinary Man that 10 days before he died of prostate cancer at the beginning of 2001, George Carman whispered quietly to his son, Dominic: "I'm not going to be able to do it," he said. "You'd better do it instead". After a lifetime at the Bar during which he had risen to become one of the highest profile barristers in British legal history, Carman's decision to ask his son to write his biography may just have proved to be the one of the few gambles he took that backfired. For sure we get plenty of details and insight into his celebrity trials, involving Jeremy Thorpe, Elton John, Tom Cruise, the Hamiltons, Jonathan Aitken et al, but what sticks in the mind is the portrait of Carman the private man. Dominic pulls no punches as his father emerges as a chain-smoking alcoholic with homosexual tendencies, who repeatedly beat all three of his wives. Some may view this as the ultimate in filial disloyalty, while others may see it as an abusive bully getting his just desserts. More importantly than either, perhaps, it's honest biography. Those who reckon that the great and the good should be exempt from close personal examination, and that they should stand and fall by their achievements, miss several tricks. Getting to the very top often involves a ruthless trampling over the feelings of colleagues, friends and families and it is to Dominic's credit that he is prepared to lay bare the price his father paid for his years in the limelight. It certainly helps to explain how barristers like Carman can live with the knowledge that their advocacy has kept a guilty person out of prison, or more worryingly, put an innocent one inside. We are told that Carman drew no pleasure from the fact that the Coronation Street star, Peter Adamson, admitted his guilt on charges of indecent assault five years after he was successfully defended, and yet Dominic goes on to say that "privately, many jokes were made about confessions emerging from other guilty people he had got off". Clearly, George was a man who liked to have things both ways. But Dominic's approach does leave just one last matter unsolved. Would his father be happy at the posthumous treatment he has received? On that one, the jury is likely to remain out.--John Crace
Review
George Carman was the most talked about and respected barrister of his generation. His many celebrity cases included George Best, Richard Branson, the Marquess of Bristol, Tom Cruise and Mohammed Al Fayed. After his successful defence of former Liberal leader Jeremy Thorpe on charges of conspiracy to murder, Carman became the only barrister (apart from John Mortimer) who was a household name. His string of celebrity clients and his public triumphs made him front-page news, but when he died of cancer few knew much about the man himself. In this candid and unsparing account of his life, Dominic Carman explains how his father, an ambitious boy from Blackpool, fought to become the star of the Bar. This compelling account reveals the story of a man whose private life turns out to be as extraordinary as his public life was successful.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
22 of 22 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This really was one of those books I could not put down. The incredible life of Carman the famous QC had me hooked just like he did so many juries. It's not just a story of how a bright Catholic boy from a modest background becomes 'the star of the bar.' This is about how a brilliant man with bucketloads of problems succeeded time and again againt the odds in court when it really mattered.
The misery he created for his family and himself of course seems so very pointless. But the really amazing thing is that it is his son writing about this stuff with such detachment: there seems to be no criticism, just puzzlement and a desire to understand. Is there a moral for us all somehwere in this tale? You the jury must decide!
The misery he created for his family and himself of course seems so very pointless. But the really amazing thing is that it is his son writing about this stuff with such detachment: there seems to be no criticism, just puzzlement and a desire to understand. Is there a moral for us all somehwere in this tale? You the jury must decide!
21 of 21 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I'm really not sure whether biographies that set out to tell the true story about someone's life always hit the mark. Relatives often make bad biographers because they lack objective judgement. So I began this with a degree of scepticism. But Dominic Carman has done an excellent job here by giving what is obviously an honest account of a very unusual life story. In revealing the truth about his father, Dominic shows us two sides of a truly remarkable man.
George Carman was clearly never ordinary in any convential sense.
As this book graphically tells us he was a serial wife beater, an alcoholic and a compulsive gambler. He was also the best jury advocate of his generation, a great speechmaker and a brilliant cross-examiner of witnesses - that much is evident from the majority of the narrative which is devoted to recording his cases in court. The triumphs are well documented and easy to read. So too is Carman's desperate other life. In what is a very readable book, it is difficult to draw any firm conclusion, except to agree with the author's verdict that Carman was indeed 'No Ordinary Man.'
35 of 37 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
The unfair criticism thrown at this book - mostly by men - has come because the author is a son revealing the sins of the father: wife-beating, drinking, gambling and mental cruelty. But the portrait painted in No Ordinary Man is compassionate, even generous to George Carman in its fulsome praise of his professional skills. It is a remarkable effort, an inspiring book and a really great read. In a word, superb.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
No ordinary man
I purchased this volume when my grandson stated that he was reading it. Having no knowledge of criminal law but considerable experience at a general secretarial level I read and... Read more
Published 5 months ago by S. L. Franklin Evans
I for one couldn't put it down!
I have to say that I found this one of those books that I found hard to put down. Whether that was because I come from a Police background and knew some of the QCs and Judges names... Read more
Published 20 months ago by Patrick H. Williams
Now I understand !
For some time I had heard that this was a biography that should be read but I couldn't understand why. After all lawyers are boring aren't they? Read more
Published on 6 Dec 2008 by D. W. Miller
what is done in the dark shall be made known in the light
Chilling and gripping; this is the story of a man adept at presenting one face to the crowd and hiding the real face in private. Read more
Published on 26 July 2007 by ISCA
A real life stranger than fiction
When I heard George Carman on Desert Island Discs in 1990 I was disappointed how little he revealed about himself. So, apparently was Sue Lawley. Read more
Published on 7 July 2006 by A. BUTTERWORTH
Fine Treatment of Unifunctional Man
At first I was skeptical of a biography of a man in the public eye written by his son. I couldn't see how he could write about his father objectively and dispassionately. Read more
Published on 25 Oct 2004 by Chie Higashino
utterly compelling
How did George Carman make so many costly mistakes and still become the greatest barrister of the 20th century? No Ordinary Man goes a long way to providing an answer. Read more
Published on 22 Mar 2004 by "virgilmyers"
a parable for the celebrity era?
So with some irony, the reputation of the brightest libel star in the British legal firmament is shot down in flames. Read more
Published on 17 Dec 2003 by "sebastianflyte"
A law unto himself
the funny thing about so many very successful people in this world is how often they turn out to be awful human beings in private. Read more
Published on 11 Nov 2003
a real eye-opener
Barristers are generally smug and self-satisfied, viewing themselves as a cut above the rest of us. In this gripping, often racy tale, Dominic Carman lifts the lid on the most... Read more
Published on 19 Feb 2003 by james dixon
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