the man's a shit, down he goes. If there's something to be said for him, you do your best not to put him inside." Despite his stern and authoritarian reputation, in the 1970s he sometimes submitted letters to the Court of Appeal supporting the reduction of his sentences. When asked towards the end of his career whether he had been stung by the criticism he had received, Stevenson replied "A lot of my colleagues are just constipated Methodists". There was no compulsory retirement age for a judge with Stevenson's length of service, which resulted in some speculation following the announcement of his retirement from the bench in 1979 that perhaps his unpopularity with certain sections of the media and establishment had led to pressure on him to step down. In an article published on the day of Stevenson's retirement, Corinna Adam of The Guardian observed that: Personal life Stevenson married Anna Cecilia Francesca Imelda Reinstein, daughter of a Bavarian hairdresser, in 1929. They had one daughter. He "turned her [his wife] out" after he discovered that she had been having an affair with Colonel Maurice Buckmaster, head of the French section of the Special Operations Executive (SOE). They were divorced in 1942, and she married Buckmaster. Stevenson married his second wife, Rosalind Monica Wagner, the sister of Sir Anthony Wagner, in 1947, and together they had a son – who also became a barrister – and a daughter. After the war, Stevenson stood as the Conservative Party candidate to represent Maldon in the 1945 United Kingdom general election. He opened his campaign by declaring that in the interests of a clean fight, he would make no allusions to the "alleged homosexuality" of his opponent, Tom Driberg, who heavily defeated him in the vote; Stevenson returned to his legal practice the following year. Despite his severe manner, Stevenson was extremely sociable and he was often the centre of a lively crowd at the bar of the Garrick Club, of which he was a member. His home at Winchelsea on the Sussex coast was called Truncheons, sometimes taken to reflect his authoritarian views, but the area had been known by that name for many years before his arrival. Following his retirement, Stevenson called for the restoration of the death penalty for all murders, and made frequent guest appearances on television until his health and eyesight began to fail. Among the programmes he