John Mortimer, Barrister and Writer who created "Rumpole," Dies at 85

[Lydia Leftcoast]

Source: New York Times

John Mortimer, barrister, author, playwright and creator of Horace Rumpole, the cunning defender of the British criminal classes, died on Friday at his home in Oxfordshire, England. He was 85.

His death was confirmed by his agent, Katherine Vile, who said he had been ill for some time.

Mr. Mortimer is known best in this country for creating the Rumpole character, an endearing and enduring relic of the British legal system who became a television hero of the courtroom comedy.

But as a barrister in Britain, Mr. Mortimer came to be known in the 1960s as a defender of free speech and human rights for taking up cases that he said were “alleged to be testing the frontiers of tolerance.” He became a Queen’s Counsel just in time to tackle some of the civil rights cases that arose in Britain in that decade, all the while writing fiction, nonfiction, drama and comedy...

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/17/books/17mortimer.html

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Sad news for fans of British mysteries everywhere.

[DemBones DemBones]

1. I will miss Rumpole and Mortimer's other characters. Even

knowing he was elderly and in poor health, I'm saddened by his death.

A second NY Times article, "Rumpole Creator Infused Whodunits With Levity" discusses his work and life and includes notes on the Rapstone Chronicles, which I had not heard of and now want to read.

"But in some ways Mr. Mortimer’s most interesting work is a trilogy of novels sometimes known as the Rapstone Chronicles, after the small English village where they mostly take place. The books center on a scheming and ambitious Tory politician named Titmuss, who may be the creepiest striver in British fiction since Widmerpool in Anthony Powell’s “Dance to the Music of Time.” Mr. Mortimer began the Rapstone books during the Margaret Thatcher administration, and they openly express his distaste for her politics. But in the final volume, “The Sound of Trumpets,” a Labor candidate named Terry Flitton doesn’t come off much better. He’s vaguely idealistic but also vain, corruptible and Clintonian in his sex life."

"Mr. Mortimer cheerfully proclaimed himself a “Champagne socialist,” but the Rapstone books take a darker, less effervescent view of politics and of human nature in general. They include the best, funniest fox-hunting scene since Trollope, and also display some of Trollope’s social observation and comic shrewdness, his eye for pretense, hypocrisy and self-deception."

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/17/books/17appr.html?ref=books

[Lydia Leftcoast]

2. Those do sound good

I'll have to add them to my "bedside queue."

[MiddleRiverRefugee]

3. Just read "Rumpole Misbehaves" last night

I believe it's one of the last Mr. Mortimer completed. He takes on the issues of Anti Social Behaviour Orders (ASBO's) and illegal immigration all at once.

[ananda]

4. Rumpole is so wonderful!

What a miracle of felicity to have had
John Mortimer and Leo McKern meet.. so
entertaining and enlightening as well.

And that 80's version of Brideshead
was a masterpiece of television and art.

RIP John Mortimer, and thank you.

[aquart]

5. I love Rumpole. RIP, Mr. Mortimer. And thank you.

[Turbineguy]

6. Watched a couple of Rumpole episodes on Friday.

For me, John Mortimer was an educator.

Matched with an aged Wife
I mete and dole unequal laws unto a savage race
Which hoards and eats and sleeps
And knows me not.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

7. He shall be missed.

[Piewhacket]

8. Love old "The boy stood on the burning deck...." Rumpole.

Wonderful stuff.
Mortimer will live on in his stories of the 'Old Bailey'.

[daleo]

9. He will be missed

I loved the Rumpole books and television shows. "She who must be obeyed", "the Penge-bungalow murders", "the Portia of our Chambers", "Soapy-Sam Ballard", ...