Bob hepple biography

Professor Sir Bob Hepple was born on 11 August 1934 in Johannesburg, Transvaal (now Gauteng). His father, Alex Hepple, was a trade unionist and Labour Party member, Member of Parliament, the Chairman of the Treason Trial Defence Fund and Chairman of the South African Defence and Aid Fund

The young Hepple attended Jeppe Boys High School in Johannesburg from 1945 to 1952 and then the University of Witwatersrand where he obtained a BA degree in 1954 and a LLB degree, cum laude, in 1957.  He was awarded the Society of Advocates Prize for being the best law graduate in 1957.  He was admitted as an attorney in South Africa in 1958.  From 1959 to 1961, he was a lecturer in Law at the University of Witwatersrand.  He practised as an advocate in South Africa between 1962 and 1963. 

At the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, he was arrested in 1952 while chairman of the Student Liberal Association and went on trial under the Illegal Squatti