British barrister and author Sir John Mortimer has died, his publisher said today. He was 85.
The creator of
Rumpole Of The Baileycombined successful careers in both the legal and literary worlds.
Tony Lacey, his editor at Viking, said: "It's hard to think he's gone. At least we're lucky enough to have Rumpole to remind us just how remarkable he was."
John Clifford Mortimer was born on April 21st, 1923. His father was a prominent divorce lawyer. "He told me to go and divorce people, which was really quite easy," he said.
He was educated at Harrow and Brasenose College, Oxford and called to the Bar in 1948. The following year he married Penelope Ruth Fletcher. The marriage was dissolved in 1972 and she died in 1999. He subsequently married Penelope Gollop.
After graduating from Oxford he got a job at Pinewood Studios as a script writer, when it was home to Noel Coward, David Niven and Richard Attenborough during the Second World War.
His famous court appearances included the
Ozcensorship trial, the Linda Lovelace so-called Deep Throat case and numerous others involving alleged pornography.
Rumpole, his most famous character, was created in the mid-1970s and was, most people think, based on his stern father. His motto was: "Never plead guilty."
These famous stories were a massive success on television. Mortimer also wrote several memoir novels, such as
Summer's Lease, Paradise Postponed, Titmuss Regained, and
Dunster,with numerous plays, film scripts and television dramas, including an adaptation of Evelyn Waugh's
Brideshead Revisited.
He received a CBE in 1986 and was knighted in 1998.
PA