The description ‘Champagne Socialist’ might have been specifically coined to describe a unique figure still going strong at 80.
Playwright, novelist and former practising barrister Mortimer recently produced yet another series of reflections on his fascinating life, Where There’s A Will.
He distinguished himself as an anti-censorship libertarian with his impassioned and successful courtroom forays in the ’60s and ’70s, defending in many famous cases - notably evoking a Royal Navy reference from the early 19th century to persuade a jury to allow The Sex Pistols to call their album Never Mind The Bollocks.
His most famous creation is rotund, overweight barrister Horace Rumpole, featured in several books and TV series.
This cheroot smoking, claret swigging character’s prickly relationship with the legal establishment has been the centrepiece for a series of stories as humorous as the best of PG Wodehouse.
After becoming a noted Labour Party ‘luvvie’ during the Tory years - which he brilliantly, fictitiously catalogued in the Leslie Titmuss trilogy - his defence of fox hunting has led to a major falling-out with Blair’s government especially in relation to civil liberties.
An evening with Mortimer, the master of the polished anecdote, should be truly rewarding.
Sir John Mortimer and Friends will be at the Library Theatre on Sunday, February 22. Tickets are £15. Call 0161 236 7110.
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