transformers while reading for the Bar in his spare time. Passing his exams, he applied for Inner Temple but was turned down because he was 'in trade'. An uncle, a Bencher and former Treasurer of Inner Temple, helped reverse the decision and Clothier was called to the Bar in 1950. Clothier started his career as a barrister in Liverpool. In his first case, Clothier defended a man with 73 previous convictions accused of throwing a brick through a shop window. Clothier made his name as a skilful industrial accident lawyer. However, with his command of technical details, he widened his practice to personal injury, professional negligence and commercial work, including corporate crime. Clothier acquired a speciality in cases that involved adverse reactions to drugs – he advised ICI over reparations for patients who had suffered side-effects from taking Eraldin and recommended that it create a scheme of full compensation. In 1965, Clothier took silk and was also appointed recorder of Blackpool. When the courts were reorganised, Clothier was appointed a deputy Crown Court judge, serving until 1978. In 1972, Clothier was appointed a Judge of Appeal on the Isle of Man and served until 1978. When serving on the bench, Clothier was a legal assessor to the General Medical and Dental councils and a member of the Royal Commission on National Health. Ombudsman Clothier became the first Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman not to come from a civil service background when he was appointed in 1978. Clothier expressed himself to be happy with the Office that he inherited from Sir Idwal Pugh: coming to my task without previous close experience with the work of either Parliament or the Executive, I have been much impressed by both. Clothier did not seek to alter the Office, but to develop it along the lines laid out by his predecessors. After a drop in the number of complaints received, the Office handled 1,031 in 1980, the fourth highest since the Office opened in 1967. Clothier continued the practice of arousing public awareness of the Office, eagerly accepting invitations to talk to groups in different parts of the country and determined that people should regard the Ombudsman as fundamental feature of the constitution. The last thing an Ombudsman wants to be observed Clothier, is distant, cold and inaccessible. Yet it was also important not to incite [the public] to grumble about nothing in particular. In