Creator of Rumpole Sir John Mortimer Dead

John Mortimer, widely known for his Rumpole series, died last Friday at 86. Mortimer was a verstille writer, known as a playwright (part of the "new wave" with John Osborne and Harold Pinter), screenwriter, novelist, and journalist. Mortimer also was a practicing barrister and Queen's Counsel, a fierce free-speech advocate, a divorce lawyer and a criminal attorney. Like his character Horace Rumpole, Mortimer accepted only defense briefs. His Rumpole is probably best known through Leo McKern's portrayals on television. In court, Mortimer was like Rumpole. He enjoyed needling judges. And they often responded in kind. During one closing argument, Mortimer apologized to the jury because they'd had to sit "through the most boring trial ever to have been held in the criminal court." The judge began his own summation by noting, "It may surprise you to know, members of the jury, that the sole purpose of the criminal law in England is not to entertain Mr. Mortimer." In later years, Mortimer created a trilogy of blackly comedic political novels, the Rapstone Chronicles.