Marcel Berlins (30 October 1941 – 31 July 2019) was a French-born lawyer, legal commentator, author, broadcaster and columnist. He was best known for his work in the United Kingdom, writing for British national newspapers ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ( ...

'' and ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...

'', presenting

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC's ...

's legal programme ''Law in Action'' for 16 years, and teaching Media Law at

City, University of London City, University of London, is a public research university in London, United Kingdom, and a member institution of the federal University of London. It was founded in 1894 as the Northampton Institute, and became a university when The City Univ ...

Biography

Berlins was born in

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Fra ...

, France, on 30 October 1941, the only child of Jacques Berlins and his wife, Pearl, who were of Latvian Jewish origin. The couple had migrated to France before the war and ran a small hotel. When the country was occupied by the Nazis in 1940, Jacques became active in the Resistance; the family moved to a remote village in the hills near

Luberon The Luberon ( or ; Provençal: ''Leberon'' or ''Leberoun'' ) is a massif in central Provence in Southern France, part of the French Prealps. It has a maximum elevation of and an area of about . It is composed of three mountain ranges (from w ...

. He moved with his parents to

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...

in 1951 and stayed there until his early adulthood. Berlins completed his schooling in South Africa and only then started to learn English; he claimed to have perfected the language by reading

Agatha Christie Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, (; 15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976) was an English writer known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving around fiction ...

novels. He remained a French citizen, however, and voted in the

2007 French presidential election Presidential elections were held in France on 21 and 22 April 2007 to elect the successor to Jacques Chirac as president of France (and ''ex officio'' Co-Prince of Andorra) for a five-year term. As no candidate received a majority of the vote, ...

.Marcel Berlins biography
''

'' Berlins studied law at the

University of the Witwatersrand The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (), is a multi-campus South African public research university situated in the northern areas of central Johannesburg. It is more commonly known as Wits University or Wits ( or ). The university ...

and spent his early career in the lower criminal courts of

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a Megacity#List of megacities, megacity, and is List of urban areas by p ...

. The deteriorating political situation in South Africa prompted a return to Europe, and Berlins moved to Paris. He considered enrolling as a student at the

Sorbonne Sorbonne may refer to: * Sorbonne (building), historic building in Paris, which housed the University of Paris and is now shared among multiple universities. *the University of Paris (c. 1150 – 1970) *one of its components or linked institution, ...

, but the possibility of French military service, led him to move again, to London. In London he studied for his master of laws degree at the

London School of Economics , mottoeng = To understand the causes of things , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £240.8 million (2021) , budget = £391.1 milli ...

. Berlins wrote a weekly column for ''

'', and regularly reviewed

crime fiction Crime fiction, detective story, murder mystery, mystery novel, and police novel are terms used to describe narratives that centre on criminal acts and especially on the investigation, either by an amateur or a professional detective, of a crime, ...

for ''

''. Berlins began presenting

's legal affairs programme ''Law in Action'' in 1988, and won two awards for Legal Broadcaster of the Year, before retiring from the programme in 2004. He was a contestant for the South of England team in the 2007 series of Radio 4's ''

Round Britain Quiz ''Round Britain Quiz'' (or ''RBQ'' for short) is a panel game that has been broadcast on BBC Radio since 1947, making it the oldest quiz still broadcast on British radio. It was based on a format called ''Transatlantic Quiz'', a contest betwee ...

'' and continued in the series until 2014. He devised and presented, for

London Weekend Television London Weekend Television (LWT) (now part of the non-franchised ITV London region) was the ITV network franchise holder for Greater London and the Home Counties at weekends, broadcasting from Fridays at 5.15 pm (7:00 pm from 1968 un ...

, the first television drama-documentary to feature real lawyers and judges doing their job and created and edited the award-winning publication ''The Law Magazine''. Berlins was a visiting professor at

, in the Department of Journalism.''About Law in Action''
BBC website, retrieved 26 August 2009 He taught Media Law to students on the Postgraduate Diplomas in Broadcast Journalism, Magazine Journalism, Newspaper Journalism and Television Current Affairs Journalism, as well as the BA in Journalism and a Social Science. Berlins was a fine pianist throughout his life and for a time played in a club in

Lourenço Marques Maputo (), formerly named Lourenço Marques until 1976, is the capital, and largest city of Mozambique. Located near the southern end of the country, it is within of the borders with Eswatini and South Africa. The city has a population of 1,088 ...

in Mozambique. He occasionally played on the public piano in

St Pancras railway station St Pancras railway station (), also known as London St Pancras or St Pancras International and officially since 2007 as London St Pancras International, is a central London railway terminus on Euston Road in the London Borough of Camden. It i ...

. In one of his final articles for ''The Guardian'', Berlins wrote that it had been

Orson Welles George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985) was an American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter, known for his innovative work in film, radio and theatre. He is considered to be among the greatest and most influential f ...

’s onscreen depiction of

Clarence Darrow Clarence Seward Darrow (; April 18, 1857 – March 13, 1938) was an American lawyer who became famous in the early 20th century for his involvement in the Leopold and Loeb murder trial and the Scopes "Monkey" Trial. He was a leading member of t ...

, the prominent American lawyer who defended two high-profile murderers facing the

death penalty 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 ...

in 1924, which had encouraged his early fascination with the law and justice.

Personal life

In 2005, Berlins married Lisa Forrell, a corporate lawyer and theatre director. Together they wrote the play ''Best of Motives'' (2002), examining how antiterrorism laws, passed following the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commer ...

, could be used to subvert the values they were supposed to protect. The couple owned several properties, including a flat in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

, a spacious mansion-block apartment in

Bloomsbury Bloomsbury is a district in the West End of London. It is considered a fashionable residential area, and is the location of numerous cultural, intellectual, and educational institutions. Bloomsbury is home of the British Museum, the largest ...

(

West End of London The West End of London (commonly referred to as the West End) is a district of Central London, west of the City of London and north of the River Thames, in which many of the city's major tourist attractions, shops, businesses, government build ...

), and an old house in

Provence Provence (, , , , ; oc, Provença or ''Prouvènço'' , ) is a geographical region and historical province of southeastern France, which extends from the left bank of the lower Rhône to the west to the Italian border to the east; it is bo ...

, close to where Berlins had spent his childhood.

Death

Berlins died on 31 July 2019, following a

brain haemorrhage Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), also known as cerebral bleed, intraparenchymal bleed, and hemorrhagic stroke, or haemorrhagic stroke, is a sudden bleeding into the tissues of the brain, into its ventricles, or into both. It is one kind of bleed ...

. Dr Paul Lashmar of the Department of Journalism at City, University of London, said: "Marcel really was a brilliant commentator on the law. He made it accessible to the ordinary reader. And what’s more, he did so with a sense of humanity. His wonderful writing will be missed." Berlins is survived by his widow and a stepson and a stepdaughter.

Books

* ''Caught in the Act'' (1974), (with Geoffrey Wansell), a study of young offenders and their treatment * ''Ramesh Maharaj, Barrister Behind Bars'' (1979), the true story of a

Trinidad Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is often referred to as the southernmos ...

ian lawyer’s detention * ''Living Together'' (1982), (with Clare Dyer), on the legal pitfalls of

cohabitation Cohabitation is an arrangement where people who are not married, usually couples, live together. They are often involved in a romantic or sexually intimate relationship on a long-term or permanent basis. Such arrangements have become increas ...

* ''The Law Machine'' (1982), (with Clare Dyer), the evolution of the justice system evolved and how it operates * ''The Law and You'' (1986), for the Consumers’ Association, examining aspects of consumer law

Plays

* ''Best of Motives'' (2002), (with Lisa Forrell), about antiterrorism laws after the September 11 attacks

References

External links

Marcel Berlins' columns
at ''The Guardian''
"Marcel Berlins introduces The 50 Greatest Crime Writers list"
at ''

'', 23 December 2008
"Marcel Berlins reviews the latest crime fiction "
''

'', 16 October 2004 {{DEFAULTSORT:Berlins, Marcel 1941 births 2019 deaths Academics of City, University of London French emigrants to England British columnists Mass media people from Marseille French emigrants to South Africa French people of Latvian-Jewish descent