Showing results by author "Mortimer" in All Categories

Horace Rumpole is back, but this one time he relates his witty tale as he now takes a turn as an Old Bailey prosecutor, one with a penchant for gin and justice. Listen to Rumpole's biting cynicism and dry humor...then become a lifelong fan!

THE INSTANT BESTSELLER BY MULTI-MILLION COPY BESTSELLING AUTHOR BOB MORTIMER. ‘A touching story of human relationships’ The Guardian ‘A delight to read’ Daily Express ‘Characteristically offbeat and thoroughly amiable’ Financial Time Bathroom salesman Matt is at a crossroads. He has...

Rumpole defends Charles Hearthstoke against charges of keeping bawdy houses, in the form of his chain of massage parlors. The case has become quite a scandal since many customers were prominent members of the community and, to Rumpole's astonishment, paid with credit cards. Guthrie Featherstone, who sought a massage for an injury, now thinks that may be identified as one of the patrons, and Rumpole cunningly arranges for him to preside at Hearthstoke's trial.

Holding power for over 50 years starting in 1327, Edward III was one of England's most influential kings and one who shaped the course of English history. Revered as one of the country's most illustrious leaders for centuries, he was also a usurper and a warmonger who ordered his uncle beheaded. A brutal man, to be sure, but also a brilliant one.

From the author of the bestselling How to Read a Book comes a comprehensive and practical guide for learning how to speak and listen more effectively. With over half a million copies in print of his “living classic” How to Read a Book in print, intellectual, philosopher, and academic...

Desmond Barrit stars as Horace Rumpole in this full-cast, feature-length radio drama Rumpole has no special objection to Christmas - except that with the Old Bailey closed, he has no opportunity to exercise his skills in court. But over the course of one unusual holiday, he nonetheless manages...

When Simeon Simcox, a socialist clergyman, leaves his entire fortune not to his family but to the ruthless, social-climbing Tory MP Leslie Titmuss, the Rector's two sons react in very different ways. Henry, novelist and former 'angry young man' turned grumpy old reactionary, decides to fight the will and prove their father was insane. Younger brother Fred, a mild-mannered country doctor, takes a different approach, quietly digging in Simeon's past, only to uncover an entirely unexpected explanation for the legacy.

Of all the questions that arise from the Shakespeare authorship debate, one is more perplexing than any other. Why does neither camp apply the sort of analysis that professional historians are able to apply to the question? In any other debate about 16th century events, historians would be summoned in droves. But when it comes to Shakespeare, everybody feels he or she is at liberty to proceed without professional historical input. In this speech, Dr. Mortimer applies a professional historical methodological approach to the authorship question.

Named a Best Book of 2022 by Time, The New Yorker, and The Wall Street Journal Longlisted for the Booker Prize · Winner of the Desmond Elliott Prize · Shortlisted for the Goldsmiths Prize · Longlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize · Shortlisted for the Sunday Times Prize This lyrical debut...

Rumpole defends a Pakistani doctor accused of molesting a female patient. Meanwhile his colleague Phyllida suspects her husband, Erskine-Brown, of philandering. To complicate these matters even more, Rumpole is sidetracked by the romantic advances of a middle-aged ex-client.

The irrepressible, audacious defence barrister Horace Rumpole continues to juggle the vagaries of the law, the ambiguities of crime, and the contradictions of the human heart. The much loved stories were adapted from his scripts for the hugely popular TV series of the same name.

Maurice Denham stars as John Mortimer's famous comic creation Rumpole of the Bailey. Defender of the underdog, friend of South London villains and scourge of QCs, much-loved barrister Horace Rumpole was first brought to life on television, and in 1980 BBC Radio 4 introduced him to the airwaves for a 13-episode series.

What was it actually like to live in Elizabethan England? If you could travel to the past and walk the streets of London in the 1590s, where would you stay? What would you eat? What would you wear? Would you really have a sense of it being a glorious age? And if so, how would that glory sit alongside the vagrants, diseases, violence, sexism and famine of the time? In this book Ian Mortimer answers the key questions that a visitor to late 16th-century England would ask.

'Rumpole and the Way Through the Woods': Rumpole makes friends with a dog named Sir Lancelot and finds himself defending a hunt saboteur who claims to be guilty of murder. 'Rumpole for the Prosecution': Rumpole’s personal commandment is ‘Thou Shalt Not Prosecute’ - but he breaks this rule to take on a private prosecution brought by a dead girl’s father. However, an obscure literary reference and a piece of evidence that doesn’t fit bring his defender’s instincts to the fore....

In this engaging collection of stories, Rumpole continues to deftly juggle the vagaries of law, the ambiguities of crime, and the contradictions of the human heart in his death-defying performances on behalf of justice. The irreverent, claret-swilling, poetry-spouting barrister takes on suspect connoisseurs in the art world, journeys deep into the throbbing heart of Africa, dabbles in some feminist politics, decides the countryside is a very dangerous place, and incurs the wrath of his wife, She Who Must Be Obeyed.

Southern girl Minty Davenport always dreamed of skyscrapers, yellow cabs, and a life like Eloise's in New York City. So upon graduation from college, she bids adieu to Charleston and makes a beeline for the Big Apple. Almost instantly, she finds herself at an event being photographed for Women's Wear Daily, and her career as a New York society "It Girl" is launched.

In the latest volume of his celebrated series of Time Traveller's Guides, Ian Mortimer turns to what is arguably the most loved period in British history: the Regency (a.k.a. Georgian England). Bookended by the outbreak of the French Revolution in 1789 and the death of George IV in 1830, this is the age of Jane Austen and the Romantic poets, the paintings of Constable and the gardens of Repton, the sartorial elegance of Brummell and the poetic licence of Byron, Britain's military triumphs at Trafalgar and Waterloo and the threat of revolution and the Peterloo massacre.

Rumpole must now defend a young member of the Timson family, an extended clan of petty thieves who are otherwise decent South London rogues. Adding to Rumpole’s anxiety, his own son now appears to be acquiring some of the less respectable Timson family traits.

Affairs and assassinations. Conflict and chaos. Power and plots. The tumultuous Tudor period is one of the most iconic and fascinating chapters in British history. In these ten atmospheric dramas, we get a glimpse into the inner workings of Tudor England – and rediscover the key characters we have grown to love and hate. Featuring world-renowned actors, these gripping, historically accurate tales are packed with excitement.

A memoir. Do I Know You? is the funny, honest and sometimes surreal story of three women thrown together by circumstance to face declining health and ultimately, loss. The story is told through brief vignettes that are contrastingly humorous and poignant.