Wig Begone

Charles Courtley

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Why I wrote this book

I never wanted to work in a dusty lawyer’s office – so became a barrister instead. Facing penury – you earn nothing to begin with – and reliant on your clerk for work (a relationship, it has to be said, not unlike that between a prostitute and pimp) I experienced the highs and lows of advocacy in places as diverse as the Central Criminal Court in the City of London to the Billericay Juvenile Court in the depth of Essex (I actually crossed the Thames by ferry to get there!)

Thus I possessed the background material to tell Charles’ story, including his setbacks and triumphs – and how he so ingenuously walks into the honey trap which threatens to destroy his budding career – not to mention his marriage to Andrea; his long suffering and supportive wife who is always there to pick up the bills!

Anybody, (not just those of a legal bent) looking for a good yarn to while away a few spare hours, should enjoy this book.

Synopsis

Charles Courtley, a newly qualified lawyer without a penny to his name, plunges into the archaic world of the Bar as it was thirty-five years ago.

After a stroke of beginners' luck - and a taste of good living - he soon becomes established in practice battling away in the criminal courts, conducting court-martials in Germany and on one horrifying occasion actually appearing in a commercial court, "winding up " companies of which he knows nothing!

He encounters a wide range of clients including an Italian motorist charged with assault, who claims to have been savagely attacked by an elderly lollipop man wielding his road sign.

On top of that, there are instructing solicitors who never pay him and even one who has departed this world altogether yet still manages to operate on a shadowy basis from the vicinity of Bow Road in East London.

Court-martials take Charles abroad where he encounters a German policeman's dog whose canine expertise is deemed to be perfectly sound evidence and samples a night out on the other side of the infamous Berlin wall just making it back to the safety of the West.

Wig Begone is an exhilarating tale of Charles' early career with disaster often lurking round the corner and culminating in his own appearance in front of England's most notorious judge!

About the Author

Charles Courtley did a great deal of amateur acting earlier in his life. In more recent years, he has written short stories (two of which were produced for radio) and two currently unpublished children’s books. From 1972–1990, he practised as a barrister, mainly in London and the South Eastern Circuit – both prosecuting and defending in criminal cases. He is now a military judge, presiding over court-martial cases, which have included a number of serious criminal allegations over the years. Charles Courtley is a pen-name.

Authors that Charles compares himself to:

HENRY CECIL Who wrote “ Brothers-in-Law”, a book about a young barrister, one Roger Thursby, in the early 1950’s.

JOHN MORTIMER In the sense that Charles Courtley too, treads the same paths as the celebrated author’s incomparable “Rumple of the Bailey”.

CARO FRASER Who writes so convincingly about barristers and chambers’ life in her “Caper Court” series.

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