He is a barrister with no ambition whatsoever other than winning each case. Rumpole is perhaps the most loveable curmudgeon in the literary realm. If you remember the PBS series "Rumpole of the Bailey" starring Leo McKern, then here is the source material for that delightful program. And Rumpole: “Perhaps you’ll show a certain reluctance about casting the first stone.” “You can rely on me for that“ the guy says. And in the title story it is interesting to see how he handles colonialism and racism.Īnyway, reading this I wish I lived in a land (and at a time) where I could respond to someone telling me a boring story: “Oh, jolly good”.Īnd in Rumpole and the Old Boy Net (where he criticises the public school system) he is opposed to a member of a LAC (Lawyers As Churchgoers) who represents the Queen in a case he expresses his wish that the prosecution will be conducted in a Christian spirit. So these books are funny not because of the sometimes lame jokes (and the names like Guthrie Featherstone or Erskine-Brown) but in spite of them.Īctually, in one of the stories Rumpole and the Female of the Species Mortimer/Rumpole addresses his patriarchal tendencies and denies that there are any. (I also disliked Kishon calling his wife the best there is.) I hasten to add that I do not agree and even in the 80s when this came out it was kind of stupid. Ah, is this supposed to be funny? I am afraid it is. At home he is ruled by She Who Must Be Obeyed. He tells us of his little adventures in the Old Bailey.
Horace Rumpole is an old barrister, the fancy name the English attach to a lawyer. But what would I include except Wodehouse and Mortimer and Townsend? I see that I do not have a shelf for humour.
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