Let's Go To Pommeroy's And Have Toast To Rumpole

January 16, 2009 6:50 AM

JohnMortimer, creator of Rumpole of the Bailey died today.
posted by Xurando (26 comments total)

He drank 'not very grand' champagne for breakfast every day since he could afford to do so, which is several decades!

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posted by asok at 7:01 AM on January 16

Very bad news. I got a lot of pleasure from his work over the years.
posted by tyllwin at 7:03 AM on January 16

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posted by biffa at 7:04 AM on January 16

My uncle and I jokingly refer to my aunt as "Shwambo," a reference to She Who Must Be Obeyed in the Rumpole of the Bailey stories. My aunt likes the nickname so much that she has even signed Christmas cards and letters as Shwambo.

By the way, Mortimer was an excellent barrister in his own right, having defended OZ magazine after they were charged with publishing an obscene cartoon of Rupert the Bear.

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posted by jonp72 at 7:05 AM on January 16 [1 favorite]

You will not be surprised to learn that I was a big fan. Many thanks, Sir John.
posted by Horace Rumpole at 7:26 AM on January 16 [1 favorite]

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posted by TheophileEscargot at 7:43 AM on January 16

My family listened to hours of Rumpole books-on-tape during roadtrips. I like to think it's because the stories were so well written, but we might just have been weird children.

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posted by hydrobatidae at 7:48 AM on January 16

To follow up on jonp72, Mortimer defended Lady Chatterly's Lover, Last Exit to Brooklyn, and Never Mind the Bullocks against obscenity charges. A faithful friend to art and liberty has passed.
posted by otio at 7:59 AM on January 16 [1 favorite]

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posted by longdaysjourney at 9:09 AM on January 16

OO
posted by motty at 9:25 AM on January 16

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posted by Nick Verstayne at 9:33 AM on January 16

I met him once; we had a long, drunken (on his part) conversation after a concert I sang in at New College, Oxford. At the time I had no idea who he was, but he was a hell of a lot of fun to talk to. He was wearing a Van Gogh sunflowers tie. We talked about his daughter, who was then a student at St John's, and the new theatre that college had just built.

A real gent, of the old-school enthusiastically bibulous sort. I'm sorry to hear he's gone.
posted by Pallas Athena at 9:53 AM on January 16 [1 favorite]

This is very sad.

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posted by malpractice at 10:12 AM on January 16

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posted by pointless_incessant_barking at 10:53 AM on January 16

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posted by event at 12:02 PM on January 16

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posted by paperpete at 2:30 PM on January 16

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posted by everichon at 2:32 PM on January 16

John Mortimer was probably the best British comic writer since PG Wodehouse, he'll be sadly missed.
posted by johnny novak at 2:51 PM on January 16

My dad turned me on to Wodehouse, and I got to turn him on to Mortimer.
posted by everichon at 2:54 PM on January 16 [1 favorite]

Never Mind the Bullocks

Bollocks

If it had been Never Mind the Bullocks, it wouldn't have been necessary to defend it in court.
posted by Grangousier at 3:08 PM on January 16

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When I was a boy my parents allowed me to stay up past my bedtime to watch Rumpole of the Bailey. Honestly, that's probably why I ended up pursuing a legal career, and why I went into criminal law: "A person who is tired of crime is tired of life."
posted by robcorr at 5:09 PM on January 16

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posted by h00py at 5:31 PM on January 16

(raises a glass of Chateau du Thames Embankment)

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posted by The Ardship of Cambry at 7:44 PM on January 16

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posted by HiddenInput at 8:00 PM on January 16

I got a lot of pleasure from his books. Sad to hear he has passed on.
posted by A-Train at 6:30 PM on January 18

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posted by kjs4 at 10:18 PM on January 18