Tributes to John Mortimer

John Mortimer, who has died at the age of 85, was one of my early heroes. In his regular appearances on Any Questions he personified a civilised approach to life that was rarely encountered in the Market Harborough of the 1970s.

On the BBC website his biographer Valerie Grove contributes a personal memoir. And, for the Guardian, Geoffrey Robertson suggests:

Rumpole helped the public – and the bar – to understand that the need to protect the liberty of the subject is the main justification for the profession, and certainly for its independence.

As ever, the best obituary is in the Daily Telegraph.