John Mortimer

He is perhaps best known as the creator or Rumpole of the Bailey, the pillar of the legal community who defends the maligned and misunderstood in that great London hall of justice, The Old Bailey. Written originally in 1975 for the BBC's Play for Today anthology series, the character of Horace Rumpole proved so popular that Mortimer expanded it into a long-running TV series, starring the robust Leo McKern, as well as over fifty novels on Rumpole's fictitious exploits.

Mortimer's other work includes various books, scripts and plays, one of which, the autobiographical 1971 work, A Voyage Round My Father, has enjoyed a recent, successful London revival.

On the show, in view of his latest book, Rumpole and the Reign of Terror, John Mortimer discusses the government's reaction to the War on Terror and how the character of Rumpole allows hi to expand on his own thoughts. "[The Government's measures] have brougght things back to pre-Magna Carta times. We're fighting for civilisation. At the next election, I might have to vote Conservative, although it might bring me out in a rash."

He also expands on Anti-Social Behaviour Orders, or ASBOs, and reflects that Rumpole himself could be considered for one. He goes on to discuss his play, A Voyage Round my Father , his own father-son relationship, and the surprise of discovering that he himself had a long-lost son: "My father toguht me everything. I owe everything to him. [And my long-lost son] has been nothing but a joy."

Rumpole and the Reign of Terror is priced £18.99, and is available from all good bookshops now.