Incredibly, it’s now more than 10 years since the Leveson Inquiry into the Culture, Practices and Ethics of the Press. Obiter recalls dropping by the evidence sessions once or twice and didn't come away particularly enlightened.
But one person who is fascinated by the whole spectacle is London and Dorset photographer Jennifer Forward-Hayter: even though she was not even in her teens at the time. 'I knew I wanted to be a photographer but the only kind of photographer I’d heard of were papparazzi,' Forward-Hayter tells Obiter.
A decade on, she has recreated the hearings in portraits of all 324 live testimonies, with herself playing the parts of journalists, celebs, politicians - and a few noted lawyers.
Her props included a shaved head, various wigs and a leather jacket. 'Only three ties were used across all costumes (and a special one for Jon Snow),' Forward-Hayter says. The most difficult impersonation? Hugh Grant.
The inquiry cost £5,442,400 to stage. ‘It cost just over £500 to recreate,’ she says. There may be a lesson there.
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