Sir John Clifford Mortimer CBE QC, born in Hampstead, London on 21 April 1923, is an English barrister, dramatist and author. Jack Cade (possibly named John Mortimer) was the leader of a popular revolt in the 1450 Kent rebellion which took place in the time of King Henry VI in England. ... The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by King George V. The Order includes five classes in civil and military divisions; in decreasing order of seniority, these are Knight Grand Cross or Dame Grand Cross (GBE) Knight Commander... For information about The Times satire Queens Counsel, see Queens Counsel (comic strip). ... is the 111th day of the year (112th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1923 (MCMXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... // Artists impression of an English and Irish barrister A barrister is a lawyer found in many common law jurisdictions which employ a split profession (as opposed to a fused profession) in relation to legal representation. ... A dramatist is an author of dramatic compositions, usually plays. ...

Biography

John Mortimer is the son of Clifford Mortimer and his wife Kathleeen May (Smith). He was educated at Harrow School and Brasenose College, Oxford. Harrow School, (originally: The Free Grammar School of John Lyon; generally: Harrow), is an independent school for boys (aged 13-18), and is located in Harrow on the Hill in the London Borough of Harrow. ... and of the Brasenose College College name The Kings Hall and College of Brasenose Latin name aula regia et collegium aenei nasi Named after Bronze door knocker Established 1509 Sister college Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge Principal Prof. ...

He was married to Penelope Fletcher, later better known as Penelope Mortimer, in 1949 and had a son and a daughter by her. They divorced in 1971 and he married Penelope Jollop in 1972. They have two daughters. He has five children altogether, Sally Silverman, Jeremy Mortimer, Ross Bentley, Emily Mortimer and Rosie Mortimer and lives with his second wife in the village of Turville Heath north of Henley-on-Thames Oxfordshire. Penelope Ruth Mortimer, born Penelope Fletcher 19 September 1918 in Rhyl, Flintshire, Wales, died 19 October 1999 in London, England was a British journalist, biographer and novelist. ... Ross Bentley (born on November 4, 1956 in Vancouver, BC) is a former CART racecar driver. ... Emily Mortimer (born 1 December 1971) is an English actress. ... , Henley-on-Thames is a town on the north side of the River Thames in south Oxfordshire, England, about 10 miles downstream and north-east from Reading, 10 miles upstream and west from Maidenhead. ...

In August 2004, he learned that he had an additional child he had not known about when he met his son Ross Bentley, more than 40 years after a formerly secret affair with Wendy Craig. The son had been brought up by Craig and her husband, Jack Bentley, the show business writer and musician. In Mortimer's memoirs, Clinging to the Wreckage, he wrote of "enjoying my mid-thirties and all the pleasures which come to a young writer." Wendy Craig (born 20 June 1934) is an English actress who is best known for her appearances in the sitcoms Butterflies, ...And Mother Makes Three and . ...

Career

Mortimer is by profession a barrister and was called to the Bar in 1948. He developed his career as a playwright by rising early to write before attending court and his oeuvre includes over fifty books, plays, and scripts.

During the war he worked with the Crown Film Unit, writing scripts for propaganda documentaries. "I lived in London and went on journeys in blacked-out trains to factories and coal-mines and military and air force installations. For the first and, in fact, the only time in my life I was, thanks to Laurie Lee, earning my living entirely as a writer. If I have knocked the documentary ideal, I would not wish to sound ungrateful to the Crown Film Unit. I was given great and welcome opportunities to write dialogue, construct scenes and try and turn ideas into some kind of visual drama."^[1] He based his first novel Charade on his experiences with the Crown Film Unit. The Crown Film Unit was an organisation within the British Governments Ministry of Information during World War II. Formerly the GPO Film Unit it became the Crown Film Unit in 1940. ... Laurence Edward Alan Laurie Lee, MBE (June 26, 1914 – May 13, 1997) was an English poet, novelist, and screenwriter, raised in the village of Slad, Gloucestershire. ...

Mortimer made his radio debut in 1955 when he adapted his own novel, Like Men Betrayed for the BBC Light Programme. But he made his debut as a playwright with The Dock Brief, starring Michael Hordern as a hapless barrister, first broadcast in 1957 on BBC Radio's Third Programme, later televised with the same cast and subsequently presented in a double bill with What Shall We Tell Caroline? at the Lyric Hammersmith in April 1958, before transferring to the Garrick Theatre. It was revived by Christopher Morahan in 2007 as part of a touring double bill, Legal Fictions [1]. For other uses, see BBC (disambiguation). ... The Light Programme was a BBC radio station broadcasting mainstream light entertainment and music. ... Sir Michael Hordern (October 3, 1911-May 2, 1995) was a British actor, knighted in 1983 for his services to the theatre. ... BBC Radio is a service of the British Broadcasting Corporation which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a Royal Charter since 1927. ... The BBC Third Programme was the third national radio network broadcast by the BBC, has since become Radio 3, but was originally known (at least within the BBC) as C. The other two were the Home Service (mainly speech based) and the Light Programme, dedicated to light music, usually cover... Lyric Theatre (sometimes Theater, the American spelling) is a common name for performing-arts houses, including: // Lyric Theatre Brisbane, Queensland Lyric Theatre, Sydney, New South Wales Lyric Theatre in Dublin Lyric Theatre in Kansas City, Missouri. ... Londons Garrick Theatre was designed by Walter Emden, with CJ Phipps brought in as a consultant to help with the planning on the difficult site, which included an underground river. ... Christopher Morahan is an English stage and television director and a producing manager. ...

His play, A Voyage Round My Father, given its first radio broadcast in 1963, is autobiographical, recounting his experiences as a young barrister and his relationship with his blind father. It was memorably televised by BBC Television in 1969 with Mark Dignam in the title role. In a slightly longer version the play later became a stage success (first at Greenwich Theatre in 1979 with Dignam, then a year later at the Theatre Royal Haymarket, now starring Alec Guinness). In 1981 it was filmed by Thames Television with Laurence Olivier as the father and Alan Bates as young Mortimer. a voyage round my father ... Cover of the first English edition of 1793 of Benjamin Franklins autobiography. ... BBC Television is a service of the British Broadcasting Corporation which began in 1932. ... Mark Dignam (20 March 1909 - 29 September 1989) was a prolific English actor. ... The Greenwich Theatre is a local theatre located in Crooms Hill close to the centre of Greenwich in south-east London. ... See also: Haymarket Theatre (Leicester) Haymarket Theatre, ca. ... Sir Alec Guinness CH, CBE (April 2, 1914 – August 5, 2000) was an Academy Award and Tony Award-winning English actor who became one of the most versatile and best-loved performers of his generation. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, OM, (IPA: ; 22 May 1907 – 11 July 1989) was an Academy Award, Golden Globe, BAFTA and four-time Emmy winning English actor, director, and producer. ... Alan Bates as butler in Gosford Park (2001) Sir Alan Arthur Bates CBE, (February 17, 1934 – December 27, 2003) was a British actor. ...

Mortimer was defence counsel at the infamous Oz "conspiracy" trial in 1971. He is also famous for defending the Sex Pistols and Virgin Records in the 1977 obscenity trial over the use of the word bollocks in the title of the punk band's landmark album Never Mind The Bollocks. Oz Number 3 Oz was a satirical humour magazine first published between 1963–69 in Sydney, Australia and, in its second and more famous incarnation, from 1967 to 1973 in London, England. ... Sex Pistols are an iconic and highly influential English punk rock band, formed in London in 1975. ... Virgin Records was a British recording label founded by English entrepreneur Richard Branson, and Nik Powell in 1972. ... Bollox redirects here. ... Never Mind the Bollocks is an album by the British punk rock band the Sex Pistols. ...

Mortimer's most famous creation is a barrister named Horace Rumpole, whose speciality is defending those accused of crime in London's redoubtable hall of justice, the Old Bailey. Mortimer created Rumpole for Rumpole of the Bailey, a 1975 contribution to the BBCs Play For Today anthology series. Played with gusto by Leo McKern, the character proved popular, and was developed into a Rumpole of the Bailey television series for Thames Television and a series of books (all written by Mortimer). In September October 2003, BBC Radio 4 broadcast four new 45-minute Rumpole dramatizations by Mortimer starring Timothy West in the title role. He also dramatised many of the real-life cases of the barrister Edward Marshall-Hall in a radio series starring ex-Doctor Who star Tom Baker. Rumpole of the Bailey is a television series created and written by British writer John Mortimer, QC and starring Leo McKern as Horace Rumpole, an aging London barrister who defends any and all clients. ... The Old Bailey. ... Year 1975 (MCMLXXV) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... For other uses, see BBC (disambiguation). ... The Play for Today logo, seen here in the opening title sequence from 1976. ... Image:Number Two. ... Rumpole of the Bailey is a British television series created and written by British writer and barrister Sir John Mortimer, QC and starring Leo McKern as Horace Rumpole, an aging London barrister who defends any and all clients. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Year 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... old Radio 4 logo BBC Radio 4 is a UK domestic radio station which broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes including news, drama, comedy, science and history. ... Timothy West CBE (born October 20, 1934) is a British film, stage and television actor. ... Sir Edward Marshall-Hall (Brighton, 1858-1927) was an English barrister who had a formidable reputation as an orator. ... This article is about the television series. ... For other persons named Tom Baker, see Tom Baker (disambiguation). ...

In 1986, his description of what he saw as Britain's descent into the viciousness of Thatcherism - Paradise Postponed - was televised. Year 1986 (MCMLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link displays 1986 Gregorian calendar). ...

Mortimer was credited with the adaptation of Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited for Granada Television in 1981. However it emerged in The Devil's Advocate, a 2005 biography of Mortimer, that none of Mortimer's submitted scripts had in fact been used and that the screenplay was actually written by the series producer and director. Evelyn Waugh, as photographed in 1940 by Carl Van Vechten Arthur Evelyn St. ... Brideshead Revisited, The Sacred & Profane Memories of Captain Charles Ryder is a novel by the English writer Evelyn Waugh, first published in 1945. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

Mortimer adapted John Fowles' The Ebony Tower for Granada in 1984. He also wrote the script, based on the autobiography of Franco Zeffirelli, for the 1999 film Tea with Mussolini, directed by Zeffirelli and starring Joan Plowright, Cher, Judi Dench, Maggie Smith and Lily Tomlin. John Robert Fowles John Robert Fowles (March 31, 1926 – November 5, 2005) was an English novelist and essayist. ... Franco Zeffirelli (born Gianfranco Corsi on February 12, 1923), is an Italian film director. ... Tea with Mussolini (1999) is a semi-autobiographical film directed by Franco Zeffirelli, telling the story of young Italian boy Lucas upbringing by a kind British woman and her circle of friends. ... Joan Ann Olivier, Baroness Olivier DBE, née Plowright (born October 28, 1929), known professionally as Dame Joan Plowright is a British actress and widow of Laurence Olivier. ... This article is about Cher, the entertainer. ... Dame Judith Olivia Dench, CH, DBE, FRSA, (born 9 December 1934), usually known as Dame Judi Dench, is an Academy Award, Golden Globe, Tony, three-time BAFTA, and six-time Laurence Olivier Award-winning English actress. ... Dame Margaret Natalie Smith, DBE (born 28 December 1934), better known as Dame Maggie Smith, is a two-time Academy Award, and Emmy-winning English film, stage, and television actress. ... Lily Tomlin (born Mary Jean Tomlin on September 1, 1939), is an Academy Award-nominated American actress and comedian. ...

Bibliography

• Charade, Mortimer's first novel, Bodley Head, London (1947); Viking, New York (1986) ISBN 0670811866
• Like Men Betrayed, Collins, London (1953); Viking, New York (1988) ISBN 067081174
• The Narrowing Stream, Collins, London (1954); Viking, New York (1989) ISBN 0670819301
• Heaven and Hell (including The Fear of Heaven and The Prince of Darkness) (1976)
• Rumpole of the Bailey (1978) ISBN 0-14-004670-4
• The Trials of Rumpole (1979)
• Rumpole (1980)
• Regina v Rumpole (1981)
• Rumpole for the Defence (1982)
• Rumpole's Return (1982)
• Clinging To The Wreckage: A Part Of Life, (autobiography) Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London (1982) ISBN 0297780107; Houghton Mifflin, New York (1982) ISBN 0899191339
• The First Rumpole Omnibus (omnibus) (1983)
• Rumpole And the Golden Thread (1983)
• Edwin and Other Plays (1984)
• In Character (1984) ISBN 0-14-006389-7
• Paradise Postponed (1985) ISBN 0-67-080094-5
• Rumpole for the Prosecution (1986)
• Rumpole's Last Case (1987)
• The Second Rumpole Omnibus (omnibus) (1987)
• Rumpole And the Age of Miracles (1988)
• Summer's Lease (1988) ISBN 0-14-010573-5
• Rumpole And the Age for Retirement (1989)
• Rumpole a La Carte (1990)
• Titmuss Regained (1990)
• Great Law And Order Stories (1990)
• The Rapstone Chronicles (omnibus) (1991)
• Rumpole On Trial (1992)
• Dunster (1992) ISBN 0-670-84060-2
• Thou Shalt Not Kill: Father Brown, Father Dowling And Other Ecclesiastical Sleuths (1992) (with G K Chesterton, Ralph McInerny)
• The Oxford Book of Villains (1992)
• The Best of Rumpole: A Personal Choice (1993)
• Under the Hammer (1994)
• Murderers and Other Friends: Another Part of Life (autobiography), Viking, London (1994); Viking, NY (1995) ISBN 0670849022
• Rumpole And the Angel of Death (1995)
• Rumpole And the Younger Generation (1995)
• Felix in the Underworld (1996)
• The Third Rumpole Omnibus (omnibus) (1997)
• The Sound of Trumpets (1998)
• The Mammoth Book of Twentieth-Century Ghost Stories (1998)
• The Summer of a Dormouse: A Year of Growing Old Disgracefully (autobiography), Viking Penguin, London (2000) ISBN 0670891061; Viking Press, New York (2001) ISBN 0670899860
• Rumpole Rests His Case (2001)
• Rumpole And the Primrose Path (2002)
• Where There's a Will (autobiography), Viking, London (2003) ISBN 0670913650; Viking, New York (2005) ISBN 0670034096
• Rumpole and the Penge Bungalow Murders (2004)
• Quite Honestly (2005) ISBN 0-670-03483-5
• The Scales of Justice (2005)
• Rumpole and the Reign of Terror (2006)

Rumpole of the Bailey is a British television series created and written by British writer and barrister Sir John Mortimer, QC and starring Leo McKern as Horace Rumpole, an aging London barrister who defends any and all clients. ... Leo McKern as Horace Rumpole in the 1983 episode Rumpole and the Old Boy Net Rumpole of the Bailey is a television series created and written by British writer Sir John Mortimer, QC and starring Leo McKern as Horace Rumpole, an ageing London barrister who defends any and all clients. ...

Select screenwriting credits

• The Innocents (1961)
• Bunny Lake Is Missing (1965)
• A Flea in Her Ear (1968)
• John and Mary (1969)
• Bermondsey (1971)
• Tea With Mussolini (1999)

The Innocents is a 1961 film based on the novel The Turn of the Screw by Henry James. ... Bunny Lake is Missing is a film in the psychological thriller genre directed by Otto Preminger. ... A Flea in Her Ear is a 1907 play by Georges Feydeau written at the height of the Belle Époque. ... , Bermondsey is an area of south London in the London Borough of Southwark. ... Tea with Mussolini (1999) is a semi-autobiographical film directed by Franco Zeffirelli, telling the story of young Italian boy Lucas upbringing by a kind British woman and her circle of friends. ...

References

• The Radio Companion by Paul Donovan, HarperCollins (1991) ISBN 0246136480
• Halliwell's Television Companion, Third edition, Grafton (1979) ISBN 0246128380
• Who's Who in the Theatre, 17th edition, ed Ian Herbert, Gale (1981) ISBN 0810302357

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

John Mortimer

• John Mortimer at the Internet Movie Database
• John Mortimer at the Internet Broadway Database
• John Mortimer biography
• Recordings and Photos of the visit by Sir John to the College Historical Society in October 2007.
• 1987 audio interview of John Mortimer by Don Swaim at Wired for Books.
• Miller, Lucasta. "The old devil: John Mortimer's colourful personal life has provided material for biographers, tabloid scandals and his own fiction. Now in his 80s, he is tackling terrorism and New Labour", The Guardian, 2006-10-07. Retrieved on 2006-10-07.