I recently rediscovered a few of the late Sir John Mortimer’s books that I had read years ago. This is not so much a book review as a character review: Rumpole of the Old Bailey, who repeatedly tries to convince Hilda, his wife, She Who Must Be Obeyed, that he is not a ‘character’. With more than 20 books of short stories featuring the bewigged Rumpole, it is surprising that I recently met several people who had never heard of Rumpole nor the expression ‘she who must be obeyed’, a term for a domineering wife that is plagerized from an earlier novel by Henry Rider Haggard.
Horace Rumpole is a criminal law attorney at the Old Bailey courthouse in London. His antics before judges and in Chambers, as well his love-hate relationship with Hilda, (he frequently ‘escapes from domestic bliss’ to drown his sorrows with a bottle of ‘Chateau Fleet Street’) show off quintessential British humour at its best, and fellow attorneys, solicitors, clerks and judges are almost as eccentric as the curmudgeonly Rumpole. Loaded with irony and abundant puns, Rumpole’s speeches before judges often result in acquittal of the most obviously guilty hardened criminals, based on unpredictable twists in the narrative of the crime as the evidence unfolds. And the criminals also come to life, often as quite likeable characters in their own right. The description of a man accused of manslaughter is typical. “His beaky nose and tuft of receding hair, combined with a paunch and long, thin legs, gave him the appearance of a discontented heron.”
Years ago, I read the unauthorized biography of John Mortimer by Graham Lord, and was disappointed to read about his turbulent personal life with affairs, a secret romantic fixation with a gay fellow barrister that resulted in his expulsion from Oxford, a bitter divorce, and an unacknowledged illegitimate son. Perhaps these experiences lead to his ability to develop the the eccentric characters that populate his stories, and seem to reflect his own eccentricities.
Vera is adamant that Rumpole in books is far better than in the films, but for non-bibliophiles, the Rumpole as portrayed by Leo Kern in the long-running BBC series is pure gold that will force chuckles out of the most dour viewers. Your chance to vote-Rumpole in books or Rumpole on film?
Pick up any Rumpole book for a summer day at the beach or cottage and you run the risk of missing out on any activities that the rest of the family may be engaged in, as you chuckle to yourself.
The Passionate Reader 