Quote of the Day (John Mortimer, on Differences in an Attorney’s Clients)

"Matrimonial clients hate each other so much and use their children to hurt each other in beastly ways. Murderers have usually killed the one person in the world that was bugging them, and they're usually quite peaceful and agreeable."—Lawyer-turned-author John Mortimer, explaining why he preferred murderers to divorcing spouses as clients, quoted in Jill Lawless, “Writer John Mortimer, 85; Creator of 'Rumpole' Plays,” The Record (Bergen County, NJ), January 17, 2009

(In recent times, I can’t think of another British author—except, maybe, for John LeCarre’s spycatcher George Smiley, as embodied by Alec Guinness—associated more closely with a particular actor than John Mortimer with the late Leo McKern as Rumpole of the Bailey on PBS’s “Mystery!” series. As much fun as it was to watch the actor on TV, it was even better to hear him READ an entire Rumpole story on tape, taking particular relish as the lion among British barristers referred to his wife as “She Who Must Be Obeyed.”

Mortimer’s quote above, like the writer’s other work, is filled with exquisite irony and wit. It’s a shame to think we won’t be getting any more of his clever work.)