Homage to John Mortimer

Posted by Jeff Lipshaw

I was saddened to see today that John Mortimer, barrister, author, and creator of Horace Rumpole, the quintessential Old Bailey hack, an aging “junior barrister,” passed away.

The Rumpole stories got a little thin (or strained) in the past few years, but the first four or five collections were superb.  You could enjoy them in print, by watching the Thames/BBC productions with Leo McKern, or by listening to the recorded books, some of which McKern read, and as they were written in the first person, it was as though Rumpole was talking to you personally.

Here’s to Horace, Hilda (“She Who Must Be Obeyed”), Phillida Trant Erskine-Brown (the Portia of our Chambers), her husband Claude, Guthrie Featherstone, and the rest.