Day 259 - 10 Jun 96 - Page 27
1 Q. Would you agree that, effectively, until this case, you
2 were basically writ-happy and sending out threatening
3 letters and writs left, right and centre?
4 A. No.
5
6 Q. There is just one other thing. Do you know Kew Gardens and
7 someone called Ghillemn Prance?
8 A. Yes.
9
10 MR. JUSTICE BELL: What was the name?
11
12 MS. STEEL: I do not know.
13
14 THE WITNESS: Ghillemn, Prance, my Lord.
15
16 MR. RAMPTON: It is a Welsh name, spelt G-H-I-L-L-E-M-N,
17 I think, but it is pronounced "Ian", and he is Professor
18 Sir Ghillemn Prance, and he is -----
19
20 MR. JUSTICE BELL: What is the surname?
21
22 MR. RAMPTON: Prance, as in horse, P-R-A-N-C-E; and he is the
23 director of the Botanical Gardens at Kew.
24
25 MS. STEEL: He was referred to in a newspaper article, was he
26 not, criticising rainforest destruction, and it referred to
27 grazing cattle destined to be in a Big Mac? Do you
28 remember that? I can show you the cutting, if you want.
29 It is in the Sunday Correspondent of 15th October 1989.
30 A. I cannot remember that. I know -- I call him
31 "Gillian", my Lord; that is the way it is spelt -- I know
32 Ghillemn Prance. He is very supportive. I do not think
33 I have ever found it necessary to write to Mr. Prance
34 asking him to withdraw a statement.
35
36 Q. This is in Defendants' supplementary documents number 8, on
37 the third page. Is it not the case that you wrote to him
38 and asked him to withdraw the criticisms, and it was
39 following that that -----
40 A. Well, we may have done. I cannot remember it.
41
42 Q. You do not remember?
43 A. No. We are very friendly with Ghillemn Prance. Can
44 I just correct a statement I made a couple of moments ago,
45 my Lord? When I said about a dozen cases, I meant a dozen
46 cases where we actually threatened legal action. We have
47 written to several people regarding the remarks they have
48 made.
49
50 MS. STEEL: What it says in the article is, it actually says
51 Dr. Ian Prance:
52
53 "....Director of the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew and a
54 leading Amazonianist, is deeply concerned for the future of
55 the forests there which are being rased in order to graze
56 cattle destined to be Big Macs."
57
58 That does not refresh your memory at all?
59 A. We may have written to him and said we are not
60 involved.
