John Mortimer: 1923-2009

Lawyer, author and humorist John Mortimer passed away in his sleep on Friday morning at his home in Oxfordshire, England, at the age of 85. His agent, Katherine Vile, said he had been sick for some time.

Mortimer was born April 21, 1923. He attended Oxford University and qualified as a lawyer in the 1940s, but he says this was his "day job." In his free time, he wrote novels and plays, leading to a two-pronged career he described as "schizoid."

He is most famous for his Rumpole of the Bailey short story series about Horace Rumpole, a London barrister who specializes in defending petty criminals and enjoys sipping claret at Pommeroy’s wine bar and quoting Keats. Occasionally he goes home to his wife, a.k.a., "She Who Must Be Obeyed." Rumpole of the Bailey was made into an ITV series in 1978 starring Leo McKern.

But underneath Mortimer's cynical veneer was a man who cared passionately about freedom of speech. He defended Penguin, the publisher of D.H. Lawrence's Lady Chatterley's Lover, against obscenity charges in the 1960s, represented leftist magazine Oz at an obscenity trial and defended Gay News magazine against a blasphemy charge. Even curmudgeonly Horace Rumpole became a mouthpiece for Mortimer's beliefs; in Rumpole and the Reign of Terror (2006), the barrister defends a suspect held under Britain’s anti-terrorism laws.

However, Mortimer's solemnity never lasted long. A man witty enough to rival Oscar Wilde, it's only fitting to let him have the last word: "The time will come in your life," he said, toward the end of his life, "when the voice of God will thunder at you from a cloud, 'From this day forth thou shalt not be able to put on thine own socks.'"

Related links:
NyTimes.com: John Mortimer, Creator of Rumpole, Dies at 85
IndependentMinds.com: Sir John Mortimer: In His Own Words
IHT.com: A Voyage Round John Mortimer