Exchanging a bit of memorabilia stuff with my brother, I was reminded of the romance between my grandmother, Molly Fenwick, and the barrister Howard Gritten MP. Perhaps unwisely, Granny refused to marry Mr Gritten despite his repeated proposals, but instead married the less satisfactory Montague Davies, who she later divorced. I never met Monty; the family said he was a bad egg. A talented musician, but not a good sort.  He got blanked out of the family.

Why is this piece of personal history of any relevance on this legal website? Because some matter of bizarre coincidence, I have now learned that Howard Gritten practised out of 11 King’s Bench Walk in The Temple, the original home of Keating Chambers, and where my contemporaries in Chambers practised when I first instructed them when I was a solicitor.

What a small world.

If Granny had married Howard Gritten, things would have course of turned out very differently for her. And for me. I would not exist.