This weekend, I celebrate again the date of my birth, and this makes me look both backwards and forwards, thinking of my past and of such future as is left to me. On this occasion, the principal thought which comes to me is the combination in my life – in all our lives – of chance and choice in shaping what is thereafter likely to happen.

When I was very young, before the Second World War, our way of life seemed settled and unlikely to change. But we all now know that the social changes which have occurred since then have been enormous and radical in every country of the world.

My first fundamental chance was the possibility of coming, in 1947, to school in France. But this would have held no value if I had not also chosen to take up the offer. Nobody forced me, but I had already enjoyed French lessons so much that I pushed hard to be allowed to go under a possible exchange arrangement with a boy from the linked school in Normandy. Another boy in the same class at the same English school as myself also asked to go, but, once we were there (in widely separate houses), he regretted his choice, and made little progress in improving his French. In other words this event which changed my life was a combination of chance and choice.

The same can be said of my decision to go into the law, since I had originally obtained a place at Saint Edmund Hall, Oxford, to read French Literature. That was thought appropriate for me, having done so well in all examinations in both language and literature. But I had worries about what kind of professional life would be available to me once I graduated in French. Luckily I was able to discuss this with my father, and he fully understood what I perceived as a problem. He suggested thinking of either the law or accountancy, the latter because I had also done especially well in mathematics in public examinations and during my national service in the Army. For either of these professional lines to follow, he suggested that I might consider reading law as a useful preparation.

When my University place was confirmed, I asked the College if I might make the change of subject, and was told that I could. Here the chance was the worry about my future, and the choice was to do something positive about it.

Later, when I was close to graduating, my chance was that my father introduced me to two friends of his who were, respectively, an English Solicitor and a Chartered Accountant, My choice was to opt for the law. Looking back, I realise that this combination of chance and choice was crucial to the rest of my life. I cannot complain at the chance which this then gave me to choose the particular (some even think very peculiar) path which I have since followed, including my moving to and fro' between England and France.

Obviously, I have made choices which have since shown themselves to have been unfortunate. But I remain convinced that I could never have made the good choices which I did, if I had not had the chances which came my way. I cannot separate their respective effect on my life of each of these sources.

Having passed another year of life, I hope that all who read these lines will take comfort from the thought that each of us must recognise his or her chances as they arise and then make the best possible choice from what the chances make available.

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