In Character

by John Mortimer

The author's interviews in "The Sunday Times" command an enthusiastic following. Using his powers of cross-examination, and his playwright's ear for detail, he talks to such diverse personalities as Graham Greene, Mick Jagger, Enoch Powell and David Hockney.

Genres: Biography, Essays, Nonfiction, British Literature

206 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 1988

About the author

John Clifford Mortimer was a novelist, playwright and former practising barrister. Among his many publications are several volumes of Rumpole stories and a trilogy of political novels, Paradise Postponed, Titmuss Regained and The Sound of Trumpets, featuring Leslie Titmuss - a character as brilliant as Rumpole. John Mortimer received a knighthood for his services to the arts in 1998.

Series:
Rumpole of the Bailey
Rapstone Chronicles

Reviews

[Ian · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little while ago I read the second collection of John Mortimer’s interviews from the early 1980s, so I decided to add this earlier group.

In the first half of the book there’s a great deal on the subject of Christianity. Mortimer’s subjects include Archbishop of Canterbury Robert Runcie as well as Cardinal Hume of the RC Church. Graham Greene is in there, as is Malcolm Muggeridge. By the 1970s Muggeridge, a one-time Marxist, had become a puritanical Christian best known for campaigning against sex and violence on TV, and during this ultra-permissive time was considered a ridiculous figure by young people. In recent years I have learned more about his early life and gained more respect for him, but I found the views expressed in his interview to be odd. Mortimer also interviews James Anderton, whose existence I had forgotten about. He was a Chief Constable of Greater Manchester and another evangelical Christian. In these interviews Mortimer tends to focus on the philosophical problem of why a benevolent and omnipotent God allows evil. Even I know this is an issue that has been well chewed over by theologians, so I don’t think Mortimer’s interviews added much.

Away from religion, one of his subjects is Arthur Scargill, at the time the President of the now defunct National Union of Mineworkers and a political figure from the hard left. Mortimer refers to Scargill’s office containing “a big, rather good oil painting of the young leader making a speech.” It was interesting to read Mortimer’s low key reaction. I remember reading of a Labour MP who described that painting as an indication of Scargill’s megalomania, a view I agree with. Mortimer is generally kind to all his subjects.

There’s a better interview with Ken Livingstone, who in electoral terms is probably Britain’s most successful politician from the hard left. Mortimer’s piece is subtle but does reveal a fair bit about Livingstone, even if he was unaware of his rather tangled personal life, which Livingstone succeeded in keeping under wraps until the early 21st century. A variety of other politicians of the era feature, with mixed results.

Speaking of a tangled personal life, there is a chapter on Georges Simenon, though he was open about his. I know Simenon was a Francophone Belgian rather than a Frenchman, but his considerable appetite for women and wine meant he came over as a sort of hyperbolic version of the stereotypical Frenchman. Actually the various pieces on writers were, for me, amongst the best. These included Angela Carter, Dick Francis, Frederick Forsyth, Catherine Cookson, and Shirley Conran. There’s an interesting period piece on an executive with the computer company ICL, carried out right at the start of the IT revolution, when terms like “software” had to be explained to the reader.

There’s one feature when Mortimer, a lawyer, travels to Florida to assess the impact of the introduction of TV cameras into U.S. courts. In this discussion he features something which has always astonished me, which is the length of prison sentences handed out in the U.S. “sentences of as much as thirty years on youths guilty of second offences of burglary, the sort of sentence which was only considered appropriate in England for plotting to hand over the vital secrets of our defence to a hostile power.” There’s a thoughtful discussion on the issue of cameras.

Although I found some individual pieces good, taken as a whole I didn’t enjoy these interviews quite as much as the earlier collection. Perhaps the novelty of them had worn off a bit, although I also wondered whether Mortimer was still refining his technique at this stage.

[Tony · Rating 4 out of 5]

pretty good stuff, probably of more interest to UK citizens growing up in the seventies and eighties. Worth reading for his cross examination of Denning alone.

[Tim Pendry · Rating 2 out of 5]

A selection of nearly 30 interviews with prominent men and women of the early 1980s (the selection was published in 1983), the bulk of this will probably not mean much to anyone born after 1965 or from outside the UK. They are also very short and so have no space to be truly revealing.

Nevertheless, as a snapshot of the time, the book retains some value. Mortimer (lawyer, playwright, memoirist, 'bon viveur' and creator of 'Rumpole of the Bailey') undoubtedly writes well. It also ranges nicely across the establishment - churchmen, politicians, authors, actors, judges.

I have been in the room with one of his subjects (Healey), met with another (Benn) and knew a little more of a third and fourth (Livingstone and Foot) as well as worked and danced with the daughter of a fifth (discretion at this point). All are presented true to life as far as I could see.

Each interview would be useful in a biography as a source of a quotation or two and each is part of the legend - the sexual obsessions of Simenon, the Christian authoritarianism of James Anderton or the working class origins and aspirations of Catherine Cookson.

Nobody comes across as unlikeable though some come across as cyphers. The only businessman in the group, the now-forgotten Robb Wilmot, here almost epitomises Marcuse's 'one-dimensional man'. One gets the impression that Mortimer simply does not 'get' business.

Mick Jagger shines despite the questioning. Eric Morecambe's origins in pre-television entertainment are interesting. David Hockney is cheeky and probably the one who seems the most intelligent of all of them. Dick Francis appears as integrity incarnate as does Frederick Forsyth in his unusual way.

The religious (Runcie and Hume) are perhaps a little evasive and too willing to placate an avowed atheist. Arthur Scargill comes across as a rather fun character (certainly compared to the dour Benn, the aristo-socialist).

Ken Livingstone is captured whole at his moment of first triumph at the GLC accompanied by the somewhat fanatical Valerie Wise. There are no surprises with the more establishment politicians - indeed, there are not many surprises at all. Everyone plays to type.

Mortimer also has some interesting (for Britons) interviews with American lawyers who are presented as living on a totally different planet (made more clear by the interview with Lord Denning) which they are. The myth that the UK and US are of one culture and one blood is nicely punctured here.

I would not go out of your way to read this but if it falls into your hands and you know the era and the characters, some of whom have survived well into the current century as figures of note, then you may find this amusing.

[James Wilson FRHistS · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful selection of pieces by an outstanding writer and highly intelligent individual. The interview with Lord Denning is worth the price of admission on its own (declaring my interest in the subject). It was written in a very different time, but is none the worse for that - especially for the historically-minded.

[Robert Bagnall · Rating 3 out of 5]

Readable, passable, but really not sure why this book exists - an anthology of magazine articles from the early 1980s, possibly of passing interest to biographers or chroniclers of the days of Thatcher, but there are better sources for either.

[Blaise Carland · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not bad. A good snapshot into the English past. Mind you, I had to read a quick Wikipedia article for half of them to get context.

I have the second collection which I’ll start in a bit.

[Ingrid Self · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very Very interesting book - Mortimer interviews some really interesting characters, mostly from British 20th century (obviously) history, some authors, Mick jagger and others. I read it as a chapter, or part thereof, a day and it gave a good pace to it. Fascinating, seeing, as it were, history from the other side of the looking glass.

[Diana180]

Charming book of magazine profiles of politicians, authors and clerics who were in the news circa 1980. The most frequent question he seems to ask them is whether they believe in God. Nobody likes Mrs. Thatcher.

[Helena Eatock · Rating 5 out of 5]

Each interview is a minor work of literature. Mortimer is clearly a master of characterisation and uses his wit to tease out the most borderline responses from his interviewees. Today's lot should take note

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Excellent collection of interviews from as diverse people as Cardinal Hume, Laurence Olivier and Mick Jagger.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

of an era some cracking moments

[David]

A superb collection of famous public figures at their most private and personal. Mortimer elicits human touches from even the most (to me, anyway) unsympathetic of figures.