Eighty years ago this year, on 1st April, 1946, David Maxwell Fyfe cross-examined Hitler’s Foreign Secretary Joachim von Ribbentrop, often regarded as Hitler's ‘fool’, at the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials. As English Cabaret continue to perform Sue Casson's Dreams of Peace & Freedom, the story of David's journey from Nuremberg prosecutor to ECHR champion, for All Fools Day, Tom Blackmore reflects on changing perceptions of foolishness, and ponders who the fools are today.

This is the first of a short series by Tom Blackmore that looks at how the peace was won after the Second World War through the eyes of a Nuremberg prosecutor who went to champion and draft the ECHR. They look forward to commemorative performances of Sue Casson’s Dreams of Peace & Freedom later this year which will remember its birth from the ashes of a decimated Europe and celebrate the protections of the Convention in this its’ 75th anniversary year.