John Mortimer RIP - Farewell Rumpole of the Bailey

John Mortimer RIP – Farewell Rumpole of the Bailey

John Mortimer

John Mortimer, the creator of Rumpole of the Bailey, died at the age of 85 today.

Many will have fond memories of the various literary works he produced throughout his lifetime. Most will think immediately of Sir Horace Rumpole of the Old Bailey and of his wife, Hilda, She Who Must Be Obeyed. The writer and former barrister was often described as a national treasure who increasingly came to resemble his Old Bailey character.

The Guardian had the following eulogy:

The novelist, playwright and former barrister, who was born in London in 1923, was known and loved for the comic lawyer Rumpole, whose dedication to cheap wine and motto “never plead guilty”, has been his most enduring creation. “He would announce to me on the phone that he thought he ought to ‘do a Rumpole’ on asbos or weapons of mass destruction, or some similar topic about which he felt particularly strongly. Rumpole and John became increasingly fused,” said Tony Lacey, Mortimer’s editor at Penguin. Mortimer originally wrote the series for television, later spinning it off into a series of books and radio programmes.

If you want to remind yourself of Rumpole, then here is a clip from “Rumpole’s Last Case”. Here Rumpole has had a big win on the horses and decides to hang up his wig – but not without telling Judge Bullingham what he really thinks of him.

The legal world is full of eccentricities. Some of them are human and some of them represent the peculiarities of the law. It is a rich field for anyone of John Mortimer’s caliber. I had always thought he was responsible also for a BBC Television series discussing strange legal cases. I remember particularly the start of the series where the irascible senior, Mr. Haddock, attempted to pay a debt to Inland Revenue by writing his check on a cow. He insisted such a check was perfectly legal. It could well have been written by John Mortimer.

In fact the Negotiable Cow is the common name of a fictitious legal case known as Inland Revenue v Haddock (heard jointly with R v Haddock). It was written by the humorist A. P. Herbert for Punch magazine as part of his series of Misleading Cases in the Common Law. The case did evolve into something of an urban legend, and periodically assertions are made that it was a true case.

Despite my confusion, John Mortimer’s legacy of memorable legal humorous works will mean that he is never forgotten. He will be sorely missed.