This long-awaited biography tells the story of a working-class Sydney boy who left Australian shores in the 1940s and went on to an extraordinary and renowned acting career. In England he become a major Shakespearean actor and made many films. Yet it was the gravelly-voiced, potato-faced Horace Rumpole in the long-running series Rumpole of the Bailey that made him a household name in Britain and Australia.

John Mortimer—novelist, playwright, memoirist, and the author of more than eighty Rumpole short stories—will never be forgotten. While still a practicing barrister, Mortimer took up the pen, and the rest is literary history. His stories featuring the cigar-chomping, cheap-wine-tippling Rumpole and his wife, Hilda (aka "She Who Must Be Obeyed"), have justly earned their place in the pantheon of mystery fiction legends, becoming the basis for the very successful television series Rumpole of the Bailey. Bringing fourteen of Rumpole's most entertaining adventures (seven of which were collected in The Best of Rumpole) together with a fragment of a new story, Forever Rumpole proves beyond a reasonable doubt that Rumpole is never less than delightful.

Horace Rumpole - cigar-smoking, claret-drinking, Wordsworth-spouting defender of some unlikely clients - often speaks of the great murder trial which revealed his talents as an advocate and made his reputation down at the Bailey when he was still a young man. Now, for the first time, the sensational story of the Penge Bungalow Murders case is told in full: how, shortly after the war, Rumpole took on the seemingly impossible task of defending young Simon Jerold, accused of murdering his father and his father's friend with a German officer's gun. And how the inexperienced young brief was left alone to pursue the path of justice, in a case that was to echo through the Bailey for years to come.

The next novel in the Rumpole series from the beloved and bestselling master of the court The Rumpole novels have garnered legions of fans who show no sign of abandoning their favorite curmudgeonly British barrister. Now in Rumpole Misbehaves, our hero takes on nothing less than the New Labour government when their ridiculous new Anti- Social Behavior Orders land a Timson child in front of the bench for playing soccer on a posh London street. However, Rumpole quickly discovers that the complainant is hiding some nefarious secrets of her own. As he investigates the murder of a prostitute with links to white slavery and unscrupulous dealings in a government department, Rumpole must also wrangle with his fellow barristers as they threaten him with an ASBO for bringing food, wine, and small cigars into his room in chambers.

Rumpole of the Bailey -- The trials of Rumpole -- Rumpole's return.

The Second Rumpole Omnibus - a classic collection of John Mortimer's greatest character 'Rumpole, like Jeeves and Sherlock Holmes, is immortal' P. D James, Mail on Sunday 'I thank heaven for small mercies. The first of these is Rumpole' Clive James, Observer Horace Rumpole turns down yet another invitation to exchange the joys and sorrows of life as an Old Bailey hack for the delights of the sunshine state, where Senior Citizens loll on beaches and the sarcastic tones of the Mad Bull (Judge Roger Bullingham) are heard no more. He settles instead for the beaded bubbles of Chateau Pommeroy's ordinary claret, the domestic chill emanating from She Who Must Be Obeyed, and his role 'extraordinaire' as Defender of the Faith: 'Never plead guilty'. This wonderful collection of Rumpole will be loved by fans of John Mortimer, as well as readers of Sherlock Holmes, P.D. James and P.G. Wodehouse. 'One of the great comic creations of modern times' Evening Standard 'There is a truth in Rumpole that is told with brilliance and grace' Daily Telegraph 'Rumpole remains and absolute delight' The Times Sir John Mortimer was a barrister, playwright and novelist. His fictional political trilogy of Paradise Postponed, Titmuss Regained and The Sound of Trumpets has recently been republished in Penguin Classics, together with Clinging to the Wreckage and his play A Voyage round My Father. His most famous creation was the barrister Horace Rumpole, who featured in four novels and around eighty short stories. His books in Penguin include: The Anti-social Behaviour of Horace Rumpole; The Collected Stories of Rumpole; The First Rumpole Omnibus; Rumpole and the Angel of Death; Rumpole and the Penge Bungalow Murders; Rumpole and the Primrose Path; Rumpole and the Reign of Terror; Rumpole and the Younger Generation; Rumpole at Christmas; Rumpole Rests His Case; The Second Rumpole Omnibus; Forever Rumpole; In Other Words; Quite Honestly and Summer's Lease.