posted on 27 Oct 2021

Rumpole by John Mortimer

I recently picked up a Folio Society edition of selected stories featuring John Mortimer’s crusty but essentially liberal legal-eagle, Horace Rumpole. I have quite fond memories of watching some of the television adaptations of the stories back in the 1980s that starred the perfectly cast Leo McKern but I suspect they would look pretty dated now.

In fact, that feels like an entirely appropriate introduction to the books because if this selection is anything to go by (and I suspect it is) they also feel astonishingly dated – take out the obvious late twentieth century cultural references and you wouldn’t be surprised to discover that these were written in the Edwardian heyday of Punch.

Rumpole is a defence lawyer and proud of  both his reputation for getting a raft of petty criminals off the hook and for his ability to unravel knotty puzzles. As a result he’s some part advocate and some part detective and it’s this blend that give the stories their intrigue. But it has to be said that they are all very formulaic and there’s an odd comfort in Rumpole’s comic world which in many ways echoes some of the more successful aspects of P.G. Wodehouse.

It is, however, essential that you like the Rumpole persona and accept the repetition of what can become slightly tedious comic threads. Rumpole is a fixture at his chambers and seems to be constantly in expectation of becoming Head of Chambers but is constantly usurped in this ambition by up and coming barristers who are younger and flashier. He accepts this with a sort of sanguine fatalism – which is more than can be said for his much more status ambitious wife who is constantly referred to as ‘She Who Must Be Obeyed’ (one of the more tedious repetitive ‘jokes’).

Rumpole likes his food and drink and has an unexpected level of familiarity with the petty criminal underbelly that sets him apart from his stiffer, more pompous colleagues and beneath what should be a crusty, conservative set of values there’s a considerably more progressive world view at work. Nicholas Lezard writing about Rumpole for The Guardian in  2013 notes:

“And there are far greater things about Rumpole to prevent us worrying too much about a few corny jokes and soft-centred jibes against political correctness. Rumpole stands, as Mortimer said (a 1992 introduction by him is reprinted here), "for our great legal principles – free speech, the idea that people are innocent until someone proves them guilty to the satisfaction of twelve ordinary members of a jury, and the proposition that the police should not invent more of the evidence than is absolutely necessary". These are rights, he reminds us, that we have struggled over for centuries – and that are still embattled.”

 

What does jump out of the book is the three-dimensionality of Rumpole – Mortimer obviously loves his creation and it oozes off the page. You could argue that Mortimer constantly loads events and evidence so much in Rumpole’s favour that his reputation as a skilled defence barrister has been rather easily won but I suspect this is something you’ll be prepared to forgive if you fall headlong into the world that’s been created for you.

But my advice would be to read these stories sparingly to avoid them getting stale. One or two at a time is the sensible way to go rather than binging on them. Like all sugary snacks you start off thinking you could eat them forever only to find yourself nauseous once the first packet of biscuits is finished.

This Folio Society edition is nicely illustrated by Paul Cox and can be found on second hand sites for little more than a tenner.

 

Terry Potter

October 2021