John Mortimer

John Mortimer was an English barrister, dramatist, screenwriter, and novelist best known as the creator of Rumpole of the Bailey, one of the most beloved characters in British television and literature. Born in Hampstead, London, in 1923, he was the son of a blind barrister and was educated at Harrow School and Brasenose College, Oxford. He was called to the bar in 1948 and became a Queen's Counsel in 1966, while simultaneously pursuing a prolific literary career. As a barrister, Mortimer specialised in obscenity and censorship cases, defending publications including Oz magazine and the Sex Pistols' Never Mind the Bollocks album. As a writer, he created the irascible, poetry-quoting defence barrister Horace Rumpole, who appeared in dozens of television episodes, short stories, and novels. His memoir Clinging to the Wreckage won the Yorkshire Post Book of the Year Award and was adapted for television. He also wrote acclaimed plays, screenplays (including Brideshead Revisited for television), and several volumes of autobiography. Mortimer was knighted in 1998 and received a CBE. He died in 2009. His audiobooks and books remain popular with listeners and readers who appreciate his wit, his championing of individual liberty, and his affectionate portraits of English eccentricity and the law.