[4][5][6] Ponnambalam joined Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge on a government scholarship, graduating with a first class degree in natural sciences tripos.

He was one of the defence lawyers in the 1954 Ranjani taxi cab case at which his cross examination of fingerprint experts resulted in the acquittal of all four accused and changes to the finger print law.

[2][11] As his popularity began to decline in the late 1950s Ponnambalam gradually moved his legal practice to Malaya, only returning to Ceylon to contest elections and take part in high-profile cases.

[2] Ponnambalam represented Karunanidhi at Supreme Court justice Ranjit Singh Sarkaria's commission of inquiry.

[2] On 21 May 1976 several leading Tamil politicians (A. Amirthalingam, V. N. Navaratnam, K. P. Ratnam, M. Sivasithamparam and K. Thurairatnam) were delivering leaflets when they were all arrested on government orders.

[14] All the defendants were acquitted on 10 February 1977 after a famous trial at bar case in which around 70 leading Tamil lawyers, including Ponnambalam and S. J. V. Chelvanayakam, acted for the defence.

[4] He had been unable to contest in his home constituency of Point Pedro due to the boycott organised by the Jaffna Youth Congress.

[4][19] The Board of Ministers established after the 1936 state council election consisted entirely of Sinhalese members, excluding minorities who together made up 35% of Ceylon's population.

[19] This was one of the drivers which led Ponnambalam to make his infamous 50:50 demand in a marathon speech to the State Council on 15 March 1939.

[2] Ponnambalam presided over a meeting at the house of Herbert Sri Nissanka (the Yamuna Conference) at which an unsuccessful attempt was made to form a government without the UNP.

[27] Eventually, in December 1949, the ACTC dissidents, led by Chelvanayakam, C. Vanniasingam and E. M. V. Naganathan, formed the Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK, Federal Party).

[37] After the election the ACTC joined the UNP led national government and Ponnambalam was offered a ministerial position which he declined.