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    Rumpole and the Alternative Society
    Rumpole and the Alternative Society
    Rumpole and the Alternative Society
    Audiobook (abridged)47 minutes

    Rumpole and the Alternative Society

    Written by John Mortimer

    Narrated by Leo McKern

    4.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Our Horace Rumpole, the most traditional of traditionalists, defends a hippie-like school teacher on a drugs charge. Quite unexpectedly, he finds himself attracted to her and to her unusual lifestyle.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAudio Holdings
    Release dateJan 1, 2009
    ISBN9781601361486
    Rumpole and the Alternative Society
    Author

    John Mortimer

    Sir John Clifford Mortimer, CBE was born in April 1923. After studying at Oxford he was called to the bar at the age of 25, later becoming a QC. He is a celebrated dramatist, screenwriter and author; his most famous creation, Horace Rumpole, appeared in Rumpole of the Bailey, a television series which was later complemented by short stories, novels and radio programmes. Mortimer died in January 2009.

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    Reviews for Rumpole and the Alternative Society

    4.5/5

    15 ratings4 reviews

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    • 4/5
      I have written previously in this thread of my particular fondness for John Mortimer’s stories about Rumpole, and for some of the reasons behind it.Of course, the principal reason that I enjoy the Rumpole stories is that they are so well written, and that Rumpole is a marvelous creation.This particular volume was the third collection of stories following the significantly less than stellar legal career of Horace Rumpole. Although purportedly written by Rumpole himself, the stories are from a hagiography, and he emerges as querulous, self-opinionated, and frequently pompous to a frightful degree, Perversely, Rumpole is also an endearing character. I find it hard now to imagine Rumpole without seeing and hearing Leo McKern, who immortalised him in the long-running television series, although he has also been played very effectively on the Radio by Timothy West and Maurice Denham. Rumpole is at heart a rebel, and a perpetual supporter of life’s underdogs. Consequently, he never prosecutes, preferring always to represent the defendant. This has not endeared him to the legal establishment, nor even to the fellow tenants of his Chambers at Equity Court, but that is of no moment to Rumpole. Neither is he an expert in the intricacies of the law, but, having confined himself to criminal cases, he has amassed a wealth of knowledge of the technicalities of crime in general (admittedly from a time before the DNA analysis was even dreamt of), and of bloodstains in particular. He also eschews legal jargon, preferring to pepper his summations with quotations from the Oxford Book of English Verse (specifically the Quiller-Couch edition), and Wordsworth in particular, and relies upon a pleasing blend of theatricality and pragmatism to win his cases.The stories are certainly a joy to read, being beautifully written and mixing carefully crafted humour and satire against the pomposity of the legal system (although Rumpole himself is, in his way, perhaps the most pompous of them all.)

      1 person found this helpful

    • 3/5
      A hilarious collection of the Rumpole stories, one of the late Sir John's best.
    • 5/5
      she who must be obeyed is out of work in the literary world, today. Rumpole is one of the great treasures of literature.
    • 4/5
      good, entertaining