His Honour Michael Victor Argyle, (31 August 1915 – 4 January 1999) was a British judge at the Central Criminal Court of the United Kingdom from 1970 to 1988. Earlier, as a barrister, he defended

Ronnie Biggs Ronald Arthur Biggs (8 August 1929 – 18 December 2013) was an English criminal who helped plan and carry out the Great Train Robbery of 1963. He subsequently became notorious for his escape from prison in 1965, living as a fugitive for 36 ye ...

and, as a judge, presided at the ''Oz'' obscenity trial.

Early life

Michael Argyle was born in Tamworth, Staffordshire in England. He received his formal education at

Shardlow Hall Shardlow Hall was a school in Shardlow, a village seven miles south of Derby in the English Midlands. It was founded by Bertie Corbett, B.O.Corbett, who had played football for England, as a preparatory school for boys. One of its notable student ...

prep school,

Westminster School (God Gives the Increase) , established = Earliest records date from the 14th century, refounded in 1560 , type = Public school Independent day and boarding school , religion = Church of England , head_label = Hea ...

, and obtained a degree in the Law at

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by Henry VIII, King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge ...

. He began practising as a Barrister in 1938. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

he served as a commissioned officer with the

7th Queen's Own Hussars The 7th Queen's Own Hussars was a cavalry regiment in the British Army, first formed in 1689. It saw service for three centuries, including the First World War and the Second World War. The regiment survived the immediate post-war reduction in ...

, in India and the Italian theatres, being awarded the

Military Cross The Military Cross (MC) is the third-level (second-level pre-1993) military decoration awarded to officers and (since 1993) other ranks of the British Armed Forces, and formerly awarded to officers of other Commonwealth countries. The MC i ...

for his leadership in an opposed crossing of the

River Po The Po ( , ; la, Padus or ; Ancient Ligurian: or ) is the longest river in Italy. It flows eastward across northern Italy starting from the Cottian Alps. The river's length is either or , if the Maira, a right bank tributary, is included. Th ...

in 1945. He was discharged from the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

in 1947. He was an active member of the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

, and seeking access to Parliament he stood unsuccessfully for the Party in

Belper Belper is a town and civil parish in the local government district of Amber Valley in Derbyshire, England, located about north of Derby on the River Derwent. As well as Belper itself, the parish also includes the village of Milford and the ha ...

in the 1950 general election, and again in the

Loughborough Loughborough ( ) is a market town in the Charnwood borough of Leicestershire, England, the seat of Charnwood Borough Council and Loughborough University. At the 2011 census the town's built-up area had a population of 59,932 , the second larg ...

constituency in the 1955 General Election.

Legal career

Having been called to the Bar in 1938, he became a

Queen's Counsel In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth countries, a King's Counsel (Post-nominal letters, post-nominal initials KC) during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel (post-nominal initials QC) during the reign of ...

at the age of 36. As a barrister he gained press interest for his defence of

in his trial for the Great Train Robbery. After graduating from practising law into the ranks of the judiciary in 1962, Argyle found himself at odds judicially with elements of the

counter-cultural A counterculture is a culture whose values and norms of behavior differ substantially from those of mainstream society, sometimes diametrically opposed to mainstream cultural mores.Eric Donald Hirsch. ''The Dictionary of Cultural Literacy''. Hou ...

zeitgeist that increasingly dominated English society as the 1960s progressed, reciprocating in kind the animosity he attracted from its proponents in the public sphere with statements and decisions made from his bench which refused to yield to the pervading air of Socialistic relativism and permissiveness, and as a judge representing a judicial authoritarianism from the earlier half of the 20th century. As a judge, he is best remembered for his role during the ''Oz'' obscenity trial, in which the three ''Oz'' editors ( Richard Neville, Jim Anderson and

Felix Dennis Felix Dennis (27 May 1947 – 22 June 2014) was an English publisher, poet, spoken-word performer and philanthropist. His company, Dennis Publishing, pioneered computer and hobbyist magazine publishing in the United Kingdom. In more recent times ...

) were tried on three charges, including "conspiracy to corrupt public morals", an offence which, in theory, carried a virtually unlimited penalty. The three defendants were found guilty, with Argyle sentencing Neville and Anderson to serve a term of imprisonment with hard labour, but the convictions were subsequently overturned on appeal, when it was found that Argyle had misdirected the trial jury on several occasions. At the time of Argyle's sentencing in the ''Oz'' trial, he had given Dennis a reduced punishment on the basis of his "lower intelligence". In 1995, Dennis, by now a millionaire publisher, won a libel action against ''

The Spectator ''The Spectator'' is a weekly British magazine on politics, culture, and current affairs. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving weekly magazine in the world. It is owned by Frederick Barclay, who also owns ''The ...

''. In an article published on 20 May 1995, Argyle had claimed Dennis and his ''Oz'' co-defendants had imported and peddled drugs to school children, and also implied that they were behind threats against his life which had obliged him to stay in a hotel during the trial, guarded by armed Special Branch police. ''The Spectator'' donated £10,000 to two charities nominated by Dennis, in lieu of damages. However he declined to sue Argyle personally, commenting: "Oh, I don't want to make him a martyr of the Right: there's no glory to be had in suing an 80-year-old man and taking his house away from him. It was just a totally obvious libel." He retired from the Bench in 1987, after receiving a public reprimand from the

Lord Chancellor The lord chancellor, formally the lord high chancellor of Great Britain, is the highest-ranking traditional minister among the Great Officers of State in Scotland and England in the United Kingdom, nominally outranking the prime minister. The ...

for public statements that foreign immigration into the United Kingdom was out of control, and that

Capital Punishment Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

should be reintroduced into England's judicial system for certain crimes.

Death

Argyle died in his 84th year on 4 January 1999 at Fiskerton, in

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The traditi ...

Personal life

Argyle married Ann Newton in 1951, the marriage producing three daughters.Obituary, 'The Independent' 7 January 1999.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Argyle, Michael 1915 births 1999 deaths 20th-century English judges Conservative Party (UK) parliamentary candidates People educated at Shardlow Hall Recipients of the Military Cross British King's Counsel British Army personnel of World War II 7th Queen's Own Hussars officers People educated at Westminster School, London