Sir David Keene was educated at Hampton Grammar School and Balliol College, Oxford, where he took a first in Law, before being called to the Bar by the Inner Temple in 1964. As a barrister, he specialised in planning and public law. In 1974 he fought both that year’s General Elections as a Labour candidate. In his legal career, he progressed to becoming a QC, in which capacity he obtained planning permission for London City Airport and Blue Water Park shopping centre and subsequently was appointed as a judge of the High Court and then of the Court of Appeal. He is an Honorary Fellow of Balliol.