Instruction enlarges the natural powers of the mind.

Barrister and author                          

Selected Works:

Charade, Mortimer's first novel, Bodley Head, London - 1947 - Viking, New York - 1986
Like Men Betrayed, Collins, London - 1953 - Viking, New York - 1988
The Narrowing Stream, Collins, London - 1954 - Viking, New York - 1989
Heaven and Hell - including The Fear of Heaven and The Prince of Darkness - 1976
Will Shakespeare - 1977
Rumpole of the Bailey - 1978
The Trials of Rumpole - 1979
Rumpole's Return - 1980
Regina v Rumpole - 1981
Rumpole for the Defence - 1982
Rumpole's Return - 1982
Clinging To The Wreckage: A Part Of Life, - autobiography Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London - 1982 - Houghton Mifflin, New York - 1982
The First Rumpole Omnibus - omnibus - 1983
Rumpole And the Golden Thread - 1983
Edwin and Other Plays - 1984
In Character - 1984
Paradise Postponed - 1985
Rumpole for the Prosecution - 1986
Rumpole's Last Case - 1987
The Second Rumpole Omnibus - omnibus - 1987
Rumpole And the Age of Miracles - 1988
Summer's Lease - 1988
Rumpole And the Age for Retirement - 1989
Rumpole a La Carte - 1990
Titmuss Regained - 1990
Great Law And Order Stories - 1990
The Rapstone Chronicles - omnibus - 1991
Rumpole On Trial - 1992
Dunster - 1992
Thou Shalt Not Kill: Father Brown, Father Dowling And Other Ecclesiastical Sleuths - 1992 - with G K Chesterton, Ralph McInerny
The Oxford Book of Villains - 1992
The Best of Rumpole: A Personal Choice - 1993
Under the Hammer - 1994
Murderers and Other Friends: Another Part of Life - autobiography, Viking, London - 1994; Viking, NY - 1995
Rumpole And the Angel of Death - 1995
Rumpole And the Younger Generation - 1995
Felix in the Underworld - 1996
The Third Rumpole Omnibus - omnibus - 1997
The Sound of Trumpets - 1998
The Mammoth Book of Twentieth-Century Ghost Stories - 1998
The Summer of a Dormouse: A Year of Growing Old Disgracefully - autobiography, Viking Penguin, London - 2000 Viking Press, New York - 2001
Rumpole Rests His Case - 2001
Rumpole And the Primrose Path - 2002
The Brancusi Trial - 2003
Where There's a Will - autobiography - Viking, London - 2003 - Viking, New York - 2005
Rumpole and the Penge Bungalow Murders - 2004
Quite Honestly - 2005
The Scales of Justice - 2005
Rumpole and the Reign of Terror - 2006
The Antisocial Behaviour of Horace Rumpole - 2007 - In USA as Rumpole Misbehaves

Select screenwriting credits:

The Innocents - additional dialogue, 1961
Bunny Lake Is Missing - 1965
A Flea in Her Ear - 1968
John and Mary - 1969
Bermondsey - 1971
Tea With Mussolini - 1999                          

Mother Kathleen May Smith
Father Clifford Mortimer
First wife Penelope Fletcher - 1949-1971, divorce, two children, Sally Silverman and Jeremy Mortimer
Second wife  Penelope Gollop - 1972-2009, his death, two children Emily Mortimer, Rosie Mortimer
Another child Ross Bentley with actress Wendy Craig
Four stepdaughters.
                          

Writer of Rumpole of the Bailey - BBC TV series                          

John Mortimer’s father Clifford, became blind in 1936 when he banged his head on a tree branch, but still wnet on with his career as a barrister.