John Mortimer
John Mortimer was a British playwright, barrister, screenwriter, and novelist who worked in the English language across theatre, television, and film.
Born in Hampstead on 21 April 1923, Mortimer received his early education at the Dragon School before proceeding to Harrow School. He later studied at Brasenose College, after which he pursued a career at the bar, practising as a barrister. His legal career ran in parallel with his writing life, giving him a distinctive dual professional identity.
As a playwright, Mortimer produced work for the stage, television, and film, occupying the roles of screenwriter, television writer, and film producer at various points in his career. Among his notable works is A Voyage Round My Father. He was also a novelist, sustaining a written output across multiple forms throughout his life. His contributions to literature and public life were formally recognised through the award of Commander of the Order of the British Empire and, subsequently, the honour of Knight Bachelor. He was further recognised as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, an acknowledgement of his standing among English-language writers.
Mortimer died on 16 January 2009 in Turville. The breadth of his professional roles — barrister, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, television writer, and film producer — reflects a working life conducted across distinctly different public arenas, and his notable work A Voyage Round My Father stands as one of the enduring titles associated with his name.
Quotes by John Mortimer
John Mortimer's insights on:
I think being dead isn't any problem. It's the process of dying which is quite off-putting.
It's barrister behaviour to say what you think will appeal to the person you're talking to, whoever it happens to be, whether it's true or not.
Voting Liberal is a non-thing. Historically, it might be a good idea to have a Conservative government, because change is a good thing. But I don't know that I could bring myself to vote Tory.
The hardest thing is to write a play, because you have to hold their attention for two hours, and if you let them go for five minutes, they're gone for good.
There are lots of similarities between being a writer and a lawyer: to tell a story to a jury, hold their attention, make them laugh, make them like you. But what makes being a barrister less satisfying than being a writer is, finally, that it's about what someone else wants you to say.
I try and treat my children from the age of ten months as if they were totally grown up, which I think is the only way to treat children.
My father was the doyen of the divorce barristers. He was an extremely erudite and very famous divorce barrister. So that, when I was a little boy in the nursery, instead of a story like 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,' I used to get 'The Duchess and the Seven Correspondents.'
I knew early on that I was going to be a writer. I think it's something rather like a curse that you're born with.
One thing my father said was that if you find yourself in a country where you have to carry papers, you know it has a lousy government.