Presiding in the divorce of Nelson Mandela and his former wife Winnie Mandela, sentencing the Hani-killers to death and being instrumental in appointing to the Bench Advocate Ismael Mahomed, who later became the Chief Justice, was all part of the career of former Transvaal Judge President Frikkie Eloff.
Although the 84-year-old judge retired 10 years ago, he is nearly just as busy as he was while running the Pretoria High Court.
If he is not presiding over disciplinary hearings or chairing committees, he explores the world with his second wife Wanda, who he married in 2002 after the death of his first wife Gerda.
"I am grateful that I am still in good health to be able to do this," says Eloff, who was widely known as "the gentleman judge".
In his heyday he made many headlines and was responsible for the start of the transformation of the Bench.
"One of the first things I did when appointed Judge President in 1991 was to ask the Minister of Justice why advocate Ismael Mahomed was not a judge.
I got the go-ahead to approach him and he told me that he had been overlooked time and again. We needed a man of his talents as a judge."
Ismael, who has since passed away, later became the country's Chief Justice.
Eloff also considered the appointment of other barristers of colour. Deputy Chief Justice Dikgang Moseneke, impressed him and Eloff at the time appointed him as an acting judge.
One of the highlights of his career was when he met Mandela, with who he later became good friends. Their friendship started when Eloff had to swear in members of Mandela's cabinet.
Later, Eloff from time to time visited the Mandela home. When Eloff's first wife passed away in 1997, Mandela wrote him a letter of condolences in faultless Afrikaans.
When the high profile Mandela vs Mandela divorce in 1996 came before court, Eloff decided to preside over it himself. He remembers Mandela being bitterly unhappy with his wife's conduct at the time.
"I remember well how he testified that after he was elected President and moved into the official residence, his wife was nowhere to be found. He turned to me and said: 'My lord, I was the loneliest man in the world.'"
Eloff also remembered how Winnie fired her counsel and wanted a postponement to seek other counsel.
Eloff refused this and said her dilemma was created by herself. She refused to contribute further to the proceedings and Eloff subsequently issued a divorce order.
He postponed a hearing of her financial demands to the next day, but she never showed up. Her claims were dismissed.
Eloff said he had been amused to read the comment of a Sunday newspaper following that case, in which it was stated that Winnie finally met her match when she came up against Eloff, the great-grandson of Paul Kruger.
Eloff also made headlines when in 1989 he ruled against the Carletonville City Council, which had decided that parks in their area may only be used by whites.
He ruled that the notice boards in this regard had to be removed. This prompted the Pretoria News in 1973 to write: "Mr Justice Eloff, a man equally at home talking to fellow judges as he is to lesser mortals, is known in the marbled halls of the Palace of Justice as 'the gentleman judge'.
He is praised by the legal fraternity as a fine exponent of all that is good in the legal system of South Africa. A lawyer colleague said: Judge Eloff is a good man to have on the Bench,he is both fair and firm."
Although Eloff preferred commercial and intellectual property law, he practiced and later presided over all types of cases.
One of the best known was the Chris Hani murder trial in 1991. He at the time sentenced both Janusz Wallusz and Clive Derby-Lewis to death, sentences later commuted to a life in prison.
Eloff said one of the things he would always remember from his time on the Bench, was the bravery of the key witness in the Hani murder case, Petru Harmse.
"She was, to my mind, the hero in the case. If it was not for her conduct, it is doubtful that the killers would have been found.
After she heard shots, she took down the registration numbers of the car and phoned the police. Many men would have fled in these circumstances, but she made sure that she got the details."
Eloff, who was born in Pretoria in 1925, matriculated here in 1941. After studying law, he was admitted as an advocate at the age of 22. He was first appointed as an acting judge in 1967 and as a permanent judge in 1973.
He served as an acting judge of appeal during 1984 before he became Deputy Judge President the following year and Judge President in 1991.
Eloff said one of the most interesting aspects of his appointment was that he often attended the opening of Parliament, where he met various heads of states.
He also met Queen Elizabeth and her husband, Prince Phillip, but was not impressed by Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe - "a repulsive, arrogant little man".
Eloff enjoyed every minute of his law career as each day held new challenges. It was a huge adjustment for him when he eventually retired at the end of 1998.
But Eloff has kept busy by doing commercial arbitrations for the Arbitration Foundation of Southern Africa and the Futures Exchange. He is also involved in disciplinary hearings for the Health Professions Council and several other institutions.
Eloff said he made time in his busy schedule though to explore the world. He and his wife are off to Colombia later in 2008 for the wedding of his wife's daughter.
Eloff is also involved with the University of Pretoria and especially at its law faculty.
He has received many honorary awards for his work over the years and a bronze bust of him and that of present Judge President Bernard Ngoepe stands in the Palace of Justice.
One of the highlights of his retirement was when he wrote his aurobiography.
The former Judge President says he never regretted choosing the law as a career.