Page 10 - SA Chamber UK-NOV News letter 2023

These interests included music, literacy, advocacy, health and the film, Life is Wonderful,
so named after Denis Goldberg’s words shouted out to his mother in the courtroom on
being spared the gallows.

Out of the court room Nick was warm, kind, and inclusive with an immense respect for
people from all walks of life. He had an extraordinary recall and was a great storyteller.

But he was also a good listener. He sometimes faced questions as to why a retired High
Court Judge was teaching South Africans about their own history.

His humility and respect for the country and its people invariably won them over. Over

a decade he travelled to South Africa on numerous occasions. Nick was regarded as
an honorary citizen by the South African community in London and forged close bonds
with key South Africans. He continued to travel to South Africa in connection with the
film and his youngest son Tommy was married there.

Nick was working on a film on the murdered black consciousness leader Steve Biko
when his illness took over.

He believed passionately in the future of South Africa and that despite all the problems
besetting the country, in the long run the values, vision and of the Rivonia generation
would prevail. Nick made a final visit to South Africa in March this year and he and

Frances were joined by their three sons for a week each to further explore the Western
Cape in the country they had come to love.

In April, Tommy organised a surprise dinner for about a dozen of Nick’s closest associates
in London.

I feel truly blessed to have known Nick Stadlen and to have spent so much time with
him in the last action-packed decade of his extraordinary life. My last visit to his home in
London in July came back to me as I listened to Matthew’s moving eulogy to his father.

“He was strong and gentle. Successful and modest. Serious and silly with an
acute sense of the absurd,” said Matthew. “Above all he was a man of infinite
love.”

Nick is survived by his wife Frances, sons Matthew (43) William (42) and Tommy (36) and
grandchildren Jude, Skye, Wilfred, and Marlon.

Sir Nicholas Stadlen, barrister, judge, writer, mentor, filmmaker, and philanthropist was
born on May 3, 1950. He died of mesothelioma, a form of lung cancer, on October 5, 2023.

- by John Battersby john.battersby@jdbpartners.net

John Battersby is a London-based writer and consultant. He is a former newspaper editor and foreign correspondent, and a
trustee of the charity Life is Wonderful. The documentary Life is Wonderful: Mandela’s Unsung Heroes is available on Amazon
Prime. This tribute first appeared in the Daily Maverick.

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SA CHAMBER UK NEWSLETTER NOVEMBER 2023