Raise a Glass Of Pomeroy's Chateau Thames Embankment to Rumpole

Speaking of British obituaries, a sad one today for me: John Mortimer, creator of the irascible literary heart of constitutional freedom, Horace Rumpole, dies.

Rumpole's books and TV series never fail to put me in an excellent, cheerful frame of mind- this was indeed the mood one needs to right injustices. In a world where the American and Enlgish legal systems essentially failed over the last years in a frothy, weak panic over terrorism, Rumpole was a true lawyer, acidic, hilarious, committed to the dirty work of justice in a democratic society. And Mortimer himself was a real barrister:

His time as a barrister saw him representing many divorce clients and murderers, with his famous court appearances including the radical magazine Oz's censorship trial, the Linda Lovelace so-called Deep Throat case and numerous others involving alleged pornography. "I found criminal clients easy and matrimonial clients hard," he said. "Matrimonial clients hate each other so much and use their children to hurt each other in beastly ways. Murderers have usually killed the one person in the world that was bugging them and they're usually quite peaceful and agreeable."

His friend, the novelist Margaret Drabble, said today: "He was a great fighter, a great figure, and his record in defending literature and attacking censorship was absolutely brilliant. And he did it with such good humour - it was very hard to get cross with John. He was so unpompous about his defence of literature."