She Who Must Be Obeyed?

Answer The Question

Where did the phrase she who must be obeyed come from

The phrase She Who Must Be Obeyed originally derives from the lead character of Henry Rider Haggard’s 1886 novel She: A History of Adventure. slang for ‘my wife’, implying she is in charge. fictional characters: Hilda Rumpole, the wife of Horace Rumpole of Rumpole of the Bailey (first broadcast in 1975)

Who is the queen with the secret of eternal life in Rider Haggard novel?

She, in full She: A History of Adventure, romantic novel by H. Rider Haggard, published in 1887, about two adventurers who search for a supernatural white queen, Ayesha, or “She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed,” who is the ruler of a lost African city called Kôr.

1. Ayesha has waited for 2,000 years for the reincarnation of her lover, whom she killed out of jealousy.
2. She is beautiful and powerful and finds her reincarnated ideal in Leo Vincey, who is her lover’s descendant.
3. He falls under her spell, and she attempts to make him immortal; she tries to persuade him to pass through a magic fire, but in doing so herself, she ages and crumbles into dust.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Kathleen Kuiper,

What does must be obeyed mean

To act according to what you have been asked or ordered to do by someone in authority, or to behave according to a rule, law, or instruction : The soldiers refused to obey (orders). to obey the rules of international law. See also. obedient.

What did Rumpole call his wife?

Horace Rumpole – While certain biographical details differ slightly between the original television series and the subsequent book series, Horace Rumpole has a number of definite character traits that are constant. First and foremost, he loves the courtroom.

Despite attempts by his friends and family to get him to move on to a more respectable position for his age, such as a Queen’s Counsel (QC) or a Circuit Judge (positions Rumpole sarcastically calls “Queer Customers” and “Circus Judges”), he only enjoys defending his clients (who are often legal aid cases) at the Old Bailey, London’s Central Criminal Court: “the honour of being an Old Bailey Hack”, as he describes his work.

A devotee of Arthur Quiller-Couch ‘s Oxford Book of English Verse, he often quotes Wordsworth (and other poets less frequently, e.g. Shakespeare ). He privately calls his wife, Hilda, “She Who Must Be Obeyed”, a reference to the fearsome queen in H. Rider Haggard ‘s adventure novel She,

• His skill at defending his clients is legendary among the criminal classes.
• The Timson clan of “minor villains” (primarily thieves) regularly rely on Rumpole to get them out of their latest bit of trouble with the law.
• Rumpole is proud of his successful handling of the Penge Bungalow Murders “alone and without a leader” (that is, as a “junior” barrister without a QC) early in his career and of his extensive knowledge of bloodstains and typewriters.

Cross-examination is one of his favourite activities, and he disdains barristers who lack either the skill or courage to ask the right questions. His courtroom zeal gets him into trouble from time to time. Often, his investigations reveal more than his client wants him to know.

• Rumpole’s chanciest encounters stem from arguing with judges, particularly those who seem to believe that being on trial implies guilt or that the police are infallible.
• Rumpole enjoys smoking inexpensive cigars ( cheroots ), drinking cheap red wine ( claret ), and a diet of fried breakfasts, overboiled vegetables and steak and kidney pudding,

Every day he visits “Pomeroy’s”, a wine bar on Fleet Street within walking distance of the Old Bailey and his chambers at Equity Court, at which he contributes regularly to an ever-increasing bar tab by purchasing glasses of red wine of questionable quality, which he calls variously “Cooking Claret”, “Pomeroy’s Plonk “, “Pomeroy’s Very Ordinary”, “Chateau Thames Embankment “, or “Chateau Fleet Street”.

(The last two terms are particularly derogatory: the subterranean Fleet river, which flows below Farringdon Street in a culvert and crosses under one end of Fleet Street at Ludgate Circus, served as the main sewer of Victorian London, while the Thames Embankment in central London was a reclamation of marshy land that, until the 1860s, was notably polluted).

His cigar smoking is often the subject of debate within his Chambers. His peers sometimes criticise his attire, noting his old hat (a battered Homburg), imperfectly aligned clothes, cigar ash trailing down his waistcoat and faded barrister’s wig, “bought second hand from a former Chief Justice of Tonga ” (or the Windward Islands : Rumpole is occasionally an unreliable narrator ).

• Despite his affection for the criminal classes, Rumpole has firm ethics.
• He is a staunch believer in the presumption of innocence, the ” Golden Thread of British Justice”.
• He often reinforces this by proclaiming that it is better for 10 guilty men to go free than for one innocent to be convicted (basically Blackstone’s formulation ).

Accordingly, Rumpole’s credo is “I never plead guilty”, although he has qualified that credo by stating on several occasions that he is morally bound to enter a guilty plea if he knows for a fact that the defendant is guilty of the crime of which he/she is accused.

In fact, he enters a plea of guilty on behalf of his clients in “Rumpole’s Last Case”.) But if he has any doubt whatsoever about the facts surrounding the commission of the crime, even if the defendant has confessed to the deed (having stated, and proved, on one occasion that “there is no piece of evidence more unreliable than a confession!”), Rumpole feels equally honour-bound to enter a plea of “not guilty” and offer the best defence possible.

His “never plead guilty” credo also prevents him from making deals that involve pleading guilty to lesser charges (again, with some exceptions; in “Rumpole and the Tap End” he persuades his client to plead guilty to assault in exchange for the dismissal of a charge of attempted murder).

Rumpole also refuses to prosecute, feeling it more important to defend the accused than to work to imprison them. (There was one exception, when Rumpole took on a private prosecution, working for a private citizen rather than for the crown, but he proved that the defendant was innocent and then reaffirmed, “from now on, Rumpole only defends”.) Some of Rumpole’s clients feel that things would have been better for them if they had been found guilty and resent him for getting them off.

Mortimer’s 2009 obituary in The Daily Telegraph confirmed that Rumpole was, in part, based on a chance meeting in court with James Burge QC: In the early 1970s Mortimer was appearing for some football hooligans when James Burge, with whom he was sharing the defence, told him: “I’m really an anarchist at heart, but I don’t think even my darling old Prince Peter Kropotkin would have approved of this lot.” “And there,” Mortimer realised, “I had Rumpole.”

What is the story of She H Rider Haggard about?

She: A History of Adventure

Cover of the first edition (1887)
Author	H. Rider Haggard
Illustrator	E.K. Johnson ( Graphic ) Maurice Greiffenhagen & C.H.M. Kerr (1888 ed)
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Series	Ayesha series
Genre	Fantasy, adventure, romance, Gothic
Set in	Cambridge and East Africa ( Zanzibar ), 1860s–80s
Publisher	Longmans
Publication date	1887
Media type	Print (serial, hardback, paperback)
Pages	317 (1887 hardback)
Dewey Decimal	823.8
LC Class	PR4731,S6
Preceded by	King Solomon’s Mines
Followed by	The Ancient Allan
Text	She: A History of Adventure at Wikisource

She, subtitled A History of Adventure, is a novel by the English writer H. Rider Haggard, published in book form in 1887 following serialisation in The Graphic magazine between October 1886 and January 1887. She was extraordinarily popular upon its release and has never been out of print.

1. The story is a first-person narrative which follows the journey of Horace Holly and his ward Leo Vincey to a lost kingdom in the African interior.
2. They encounter a native people and a mysterious white queen named Ayesha who reigns as the all-powerful “She” or “She-who-must-be-obeyed”.
3. Haggard developed many of the conventions of the lost world genre which countless authors have emulated.

Haggard was “part of the literary reaction against domestic realism that has been called a romance revival.” Other writers following this trend were Robert Louis Stevenson, George MacDonald, and William Morris, Haggard was inspired by his experiences living in South Africa for seven years (1875–1882) working at the highest levels of the British colonial administration.

Why does God need obedience?

Why Obey – “Then God said, ‘Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.'” ― Genesis 1:26 God created man to rule over the Earth.

• He created us to shepherd the animals and work the ground.
• God certainly does not need us to take care of his creation as he is almighty and powerful, but he asks us to do it anyway (Genesis 2:15).
• Why is that? One answer is that God is calling us to obedience and relationship with him through obedience.

By obeying his call to take care of this earth we learn more about him and can grow in understanding of his heart and desires for our lives. Obedience also leads to personal growth. Every command God asks of us isn’t just for his sake, but for ours. The call to obedience is for our benefit.

Why is it important to obey God?

How to Obey – Obedience is not easy; it can be hard. It takes sacrifice

By having a relationship with God : Decide to honour God with our decisions and actions by doing what He tells us. Our primary motive for obedience must be to please God because we love Him. It’s easy to do something when we do it out of Love even when it’s uncomfortable.

Have you noticed how a man behaves when He is in Love with a woman, He will go out of His way to do things that He would ordinarily not do for other people because he wants to please that woman. He can spend huge amounts of money for that woman, he can kill for that woman.

By reading the Bible every day as the primary basis for all our decisions and actions.

Joshua 1:8 This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, which you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.

Through Prayer

Sometimes even when we know the things that God expects from us, acting on them will not be easy. Many times obedience means sacrifice; sometimes obedience can be painful; sometimes it can mean stretching ourselves outside our comfort Zone. On our own we may not be able to do it. We therefore need God’s help through the Holy Spirit to help us.

In the Garden of Gethsemane: Jesus was tired and stressed up. The Human side of Him wanted to give up, He even prayed if God could take away the cup from Him but remembered to say “Not my will but your will”

• That’s the same prayer that we must pray every day; when obedience becomes difficult, when we are tempted to choose the easy waywe must always say ” Not my will but your will ” and act accordingly.
• Prayer will also make us sensitive to God’s word and will help us to hear His voice and know exactly what we must do.

By focusing on the reward

• Despite our main focus of obedience should be to show that we Love God, we should always remember there is a reward for obedience either in this life or the life after.
• When the devil tempts us to take the easy way out and act in rebellion always remember what you are missing out on.
• Be willing to do the hard things even when it doesn’t make sense because you know a blessing will follow, for yourself, and for your family.

Conclusion

• Obedience is act of Surrender, it is when we as Christians say ” not my will Lord but Your will and align our actions with that will. “
• Obedience is not easy, many times it means taking the higher road doing things that are against our fleshly desires.
• Although difficult, obedience sets us apart as authentic children of God. God will know us by our obedience, even those around us will be inspired by our obedience.
• Obedience demonstrates our faith and trust in God; Obedience is the key to our success; Obedience is the sure and promised way for unlocking blessings for our lives.
• For us to be able to fully obey, we must read His word every day and ask God to empower us with His holy spirit so that our life is going to honour Him.

What is the difference between faith and obedience?

What Is The Difference Between Faith And Obedience? – Guidelines Devotional Speaker: Dr. Harold J. Sala | Series: Guidelines For Living | Remember your leaders who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith.

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Hebrews 13:7-8 Why God chooses to use some individuals, and seemingly ignores those with far greater talents, is always something which defies human logic. The fact is that God often uses those who have little to recommend them when it comes to entitlement through education, family connections, and intelligence.

Yet the biographies of those who have made a mark for God indicate that they share three common traits: 1) They immediately and without hesitation responded to the call of God in their lives.2) Their simple faith in God was marked by complete obedience, and 3) What they had, they gave to the Lord completely and without reservation.

• Such was a man who lived centuries ago, whose name was Abraham.
• Called by God, he took his family and his possessions and set out on a long trek through the wilderness to a place which God had promised.
• An interesting comment found in the book of Hebrews says, “By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going” (Hebrews 11:8).

Did you notice that last phrase, “he did not know where he was going”? For a moment consider how all of this must have looked to Abraham’s friends. Do you not suppose their conversations went like this? “Say, Abe, we noticed that you are packing. Where you headed?” “I don’t know.

We’re just following the Lord.” “Really? How are you going to earn a living?” “I’m not sure of that either.” “What’s your five-year plan?” “I don’t have one. We are just following God one step at a time.” Any time someone steps out in faith to trust God, he is going to appear to have one oar out of the water.

Of course, he is out of step with the crowd. More than one person has been called a fool when he or she walked away from the comforts of life to follow the Almighty. When called a fool for what he was doing, Oswald Chambers responded, “I am not many kinds of fools in one; only one kind, the kind that believes and obeys God.” Have you learned that obedience does not require that you have the full knowledge of the game plan? It only requires that you have complete confidence in Him whom you are following.

When you come to the place where you believe with all of your heart that God can be trusted, and no matter how foolish it may look to others, you make the commitment to trust Him and serve Him, you are going to hear from some who ridicule you and try to make you feel stupid. When Mrs. Albert Einstein was asked if she understood the theory of relativity, she replied, “No, but I know my husband does, and I know that Albert can be trusted.” Faith demands commitment at the level of your heart, but obedience demands commitment at the level of your feet.

You see, there are two parts to the issue of faith. The first is intellectual. It concerns what you believe. The second is trust, and that involves actions. Of Abraham, the Bible says, “He obeyedand he went.” For the child of God, obedience is not an option.

• It is a command, and when you are confronted with a command, you have two choices: to obey, or to disobey.
• There is no third choice.
• A closing thought.
• Abraham was not perfect, but he was obedient, and God rewarded that obedience in a very large way.
• The same God will provide for you as you trust Him and walk in simple obedience.

He’s the same yet today. Resource reading: Hebrews 13:1-8. : What Is The Difference Between Faith And Obedience? – Guidelines Devotional

Why did Rumpole of the Bailey end

Rumpole Creator Lays Bare Reasons Behind Ending Of Series Look your last on “Rumpole of the Bailey,” O woe, alas! England’s greatest second-rate barrister, Horace Rumpole, (consummately played by Leo McKern), a stalwart of PBS’ “Mystery” since 1981, begins his last six-episode series of one-hour courtroom mysteries on Thursday.

1. Why? Why must it end? echoed bootless cries in the midtown hotel suite of former barrister John Mortimer, author and screenwriter of the Rumpole mysteries.
2. Was it something we said? Had McKern tired of his character? “I don’t think it’s anything to do with McKern,” said Mortimer, who was in New York to promote “Murderers and Other Friends,” the second volume of his memoirs.

“I don’t know whether he would like to do some more or not. “It’s partially the reorganization of British television, and it’s partly that I just haven’t written another television series,” he said. “I don’t know that I never will.”

• It is Rumpole who contends not merely with the travails of criminal law, officious colleagues and bullying judges, but with the terrible will of his indomitable wife, Hilda, “She Who Must Be Obeyed.”
• Rumpole’s passion for truth, justice, evidence and certain bloodstains has let him triumph, if only briefly, against all odds, while brushing the ashes of vile little cigars from his waistcoat and slurping inexpensive burgundy (“Chateau Thames Embankment”) in Pommeroy’s Wine Bar.
• Mortimer, as if to appease the pain, said he is at work on yet another book of Rumpole stories.
• “I’ve actually written a story which is told by Hilda, because I discovered there’s a Jeeves story which is actually told by Jeeves – not a good one, but at least it’s peculiar,” Mortimer said.
• They join the nine Rumpole volumes in the Mortimer oeuvre, alongside many plays, novels and classic screenplays like “Brideshead Revisited,” “A Voyage Round My Father,” “Paradise Postponed” and “Titmuss Regained.”
• Mortimer said he is hanging up “Rumpole” because the private companies controlling Britain’s commercial TV have become ratingsdriven, “very much more like American television, which is sad.”

“For some dotty reason, the whole of the commercial output is controlled by one man, a scheduler, who is appointed by all the companies. And he it is who tells them what will go in the schedule and therefore what they can make. “I don’t really wish to write 11 Rumpole scripts and have them put up to this ‘professional’ who’ll say, ‘No, I don’t think I want that at all.

We’ll have it in 10 years time,”‘ Mortimer said. “What they really want is something that’s going to last for years and years – product – which Rumpole isn’t, because Rumpole is only six episodes, and they all have to be written by me,” he said. Mortimer, an accomplished barrister who “took silk” and became a queen’s counsel at the top tier of British trial lawyers, retired from practice in 1984.

And yet he is not a lawyer who took up writing. “I was a writer. That was what I have been and always will be,” he said. “My whole life has been down to writing, but to pay the rent, I did law.” “As an advocate, I never knew very much law, and I always found that any knowledge of the law is a severe disadvantage,” Mortimer said.

The last thing the jury wants to hear is about the law. “I was very privileged to meet people who had done murders, or strange judges, or, when I was very young, women in divorce cases who would pour out all their secrets in my ear. So I learned a lot about humans. A lot.” That helped create a character on “Mystery” worthy of rubbing elbows with Hercule Poirot and Sherlock Holmes.

Yet it fails to explain why people who love Rumpole are so, dotty about him. Take the world’s largest Rumpole fan club, which is in San Francisco. “They have huge meetings. People come there from Israel, Alaska, all over,” he said. “There’s a minor character, Dodo Mackintosh, who makes ‘cheesy bits’ for the Rumpole chambers parties.

1. “Well, their last meeting started with a blind tasting of cheesy bits.
2. “And they have Hilda Rumpole lookalike contests.”
3. If this is to be the final Rumpole series, then we may never know the exact details of Rumpole’s greatest case: his successful defense, unassisted, of the infamous Penge Bungalow murders.
4. Mortimer, pressed for the truth, had none.
5. He hasn’t written the tale or even thought much about it.

“I have to find out what happened,” he said apologetically. “There was a lot of blood, and probably more dead bodies than one. Probably one was in a trunk. “Unfortunately, I was always under the impression that Penge was by the seaside,” he said. “Now I discover that Penge is in the middle of London.” : Rumpole Creator Lays Bare Reasons Behind Ending Of Series

How realistic is Rumpole?

Rumpole of the Bailey contains examples of: –

10-Minute Retirement : In the opening of “Rumpole’s Return”, Rumpole has apparently retired from the law after Judge Bull has caused him to lose ten cases in a row. Rumpole finds the good life in the sun to be interminably boring though, and a letter from Phyllida asking for some information on blood splatter evidence is taken as an opportunity for him to jump back into the law and trials. Accidental Misnaming : Phyllida (Trant) Erskine-Brown keeps having to correct people who think her name is “Phyllis”. Accuse the Witness : This seems to be Rumpole’s favorite tactic, from very early in his career as revealed in Rumpole and the Penge Bungalow Murders, Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. However he always makes sure he has evidence to back up these attacks first. Against My Religion : Frequently invoked/joked about: whatever religion Rumpole follows, it forbids prosecuting and pleading guilty (unless he knows for a fact that the client did it or if the judge is sympathetic and the client won’t get jail time). Alternate Continuity :

The books, though they began as adaptations of the TV series, had some very minor differences from the series, and kept being published long after the series had ended. The recent BBC Radio 4 plays featuring Benedict Cumberbatch. They feature a much younger Rumpole, but they are all reworked stories from the television series that featured Leo McKern’s much older Rumpole.

Always Murder : A rare exception to the rule for mystery stories. Very rarely does someone actually end up dead in Rumpole’s cases — in fact the very first story revolved around a random wounding, and the first episode of the regular series (the one that introduced the Timsons and the Malloys) was about a “robbery with violence” (i.e.

Featherstone and Ballard prefer prosecution or civil work to defense, and as such when they are assigned to be defense counsel they rarely apply themselves; they don’t do their own investigations or even bother to cross-examine witnesses for fear of upsetting the judge, unlike Rumpole who does everything he can to make sure his clients have a fighting chance. The solicitor Perrivale Blythe in “Rumpole and the Last Resort” fits this rather well; he never pays his bills to barristers — hoping to wait until the barrister dies and then settle for a small percentage with the grieving widow — and engages in some other questionable business with his clients besides. Even Rumpole falls in to this from time to time. He uses Phyllida’s naivety against her causing her to lose an open and shut case (her first prosecution), and then when she became a Recorder (part time judge) he arranged to sit on one of his cases, clearly hoping for an unfair advantage.

Arch-Enemy : Many judges don’t like Rumpole, but none are so vehement in their dislike as Judge Roger Bullingham, known to Rumpole as “the Mad Bull”. He doesn’t like defense barristers in general, but he has a special contempt for Rumpole. Artistic License Law : Averted.

1. This is noted as one of the most realistic legal dramas ever produced.
2. The writer and creator John Mortimer, QC was an actual practicing barrister in addition to being a writer, and thus knew legal life, extremely well.
3. He would get up at 4:00 in the morning to write the scripts and then go to work at court.

He eventually retired from the Bar to focus on writing full time. Awful Wedded Life : Rumpole and Hilda really don’t get along. How this is subverted to an extent as Hilda mentions that they tried to be a family for Nick’s sake when he was a boy. Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other : They may fight and argue but in Rumpole’s words “they’d rather have war together than a lonely peace”.

1. There are several indications that Hilda is secretly proud of her husband, despite her loud disappointment that’s he not a judge or a QC, although she’d never say so to her face.
2. Lampshaded in “Rumpole and the Married Woman”, where Rumpole notes that the couple in his divorce case stayed together because “they didn’t want to be alone.” Bad Boss : Sam Ballard as Head of Chambers.

He’s extremely judgmental about what choices his colleagues make in their personal and professional lives, especially Rumpole. He obsesses over very petty matters in Chambers, and his greatest concern is the public reputation and image of Chambers. On many occasions he’s tried to force Rumpole out, so his office can be taken by a more financially lucrative or “respectable” barrister.

Rumpole executes a magnificent one in “Rumpole and the Last Resort.” The gambit was focused on the solicitor Blythe, who at once owed Rumpole nearly £2,500 in fees going back as ten years earlier (at a time when Rumpole was late on his utility bills and overdrawn at his bank) and was a material witness in the fraud case he was defending. Blythe was known to hold out payment to barristers until they died, then wheedle the widow into settling the payment for a small fraction of the original fee. On top of that, Blythe had a tendency to have “just slipped out of the office” every time somebody called the office; he was more or less nowhere to be found. After Rumpole fails to convince Judge Bullingham to grant an adjournment in the fraud case to find Blythe, he decides to fake his own death : he collapses in the middle of his application to Bullingham, sends a message to Chambers (supposedly from his wife) informing them that he is dead, and hides in his house for some time (possibly a week or more) until Blythe shows up at the door, offering Mrs. Rumpole the same pittance of a settlement he usually offered. She declines, forces him to sign a check for the exact amount Rumpole was owed, and then lets in Private Detective “Fig” Newton, who hands Blythe a subpoena. Finally, when Blythe is forced to take the stand and the fraud case recommences, Bullingham starts something of a eulogy for Rumpole. At this point, Rumpole appears in the courtroom and begins his questioning of a terrified Blythe. In the meantime, Chambers had gotten rather excited by the prospect of the death of Rumpole, with “Soapy Sam” trying to use it as an excuse to take on Guthrie Featherstone’s well-connected nephew, and Claude Erskine-Brown hoping to take possession of Rumpole’s umbrella stand: all of which Rumpole heard about and used to make a point about his Chambers. Rumpole executes a few on Ballard, most notably in “Rumpole and the Age of Miracles”, where he tricks “Soapy Sam”, sitting in judgment in an ecclesiastical court, that the ghost of a saint that supposedly haunts the hotel where they are staying is warning the judge in the case (i.e. Ballard) of a great injustice to come. The trick Liz Probert pulls on Claude Erskine-Brown falls under this, as well (see Mistaken for Gay below). A nasty one is played on Rumpole in “Rumpole and the Golden Thread”, where he’s called to a fictional African nation to defend a former student of his from a capital charge by a corrupt government. He finds his client surprisingly uncooperative despite the stakes, but nonetheless keeps investigating and finds the evidence that will clear his name. Unfortunately, the alibi that proves his client’s innocence is proof of his second marriage with a woman from a different ethnic group. Rumpole’s client was actually counting on being condemned, which would have caused his faction to revolt and break him out of prison, but instead the knowledge of the love affair results in him being killed by his own people shortly after being acquitted. The government was counting on Rumpole to find and use the evidence of innocence, as this way they got to have the appearance of a “fair” trial yet eliminate a thorn in their side while keeping their own hands clean. Hilda and Liz Probert join forces in the final episode, “Rumpole on Trial,” to trick Rumpole out of giving up his career. All it takes is Hilda detailing all the things they’re going to do together now that he’s retired,

Benevolent Boss : Guthrie Featherstone, when he was Head of Chambers in the first two series. He had a much more friendly relationship with Rumpole and the other barristers than Sam Ballard ever did. Black Cap of Death : In “Rumpole and the Golden Thread”, when Rumpole visits an African nation which still has the death penalty, the resident British Ambassador is excited to see a capital case because seeing the black cap brought out “adds a certain zest” to the trial.

• Rumpole is not enthusiastic about seeing it in the least, however.
• Boarding School : Because Rumpole went to a third-rate public school, he doesn’t have an “Old Boy Net” — which turns out to be why Sam Ballard (who went to Marlborough, as did Featherstone) becomes Head of Chambers instead of Rumpole.

Brilliant, but Lazy : Rumpole is a fantastic barrister and advocate, but his practice is noted to have frequent lulls, and by his own admission he knows little about actual law. If he applied himself or expanded into other areas, he’d be much more financially secure (his bank account is often overdrawn).

British Brevity : The series aired from 1978 to 1992 for a grand total of 42 episodes broadcast over seven series, and one feature-length special aired between series two and three, plus the pilot aired on BBC in 1975. Brotherhood of Funny Hats : In “Rumpole and the Right to Silence”, he finds that the city of Gunster is dominated by the Ancient Order of Ostlers (described as “like the Freemasons, only more so”), who have a secret grip and swear by “the Great Blacksmith and Forger of the Universe.” Bulungi : Narenga, a Central African Commonwealth Realm with complex and often deadly tribal politics, in “Rumpole and the Golden Thread”.

One of Rumpole’s old pupils, who has become Minister of the Interior, invites Rumpole to defend him in a case of capital murder; the absence of a jury — an institution abolished by the British during the colonial period — drives Rumpole mad. Busman’s Holiday : “Rumpole at Sea”.

Claude and Phyllida Erskine-Brown’s wedding cake at the end of “Rumpole and the Course of True Love” features the groom in a barrister’s gown and clerical bands and the bride in a wedding dressand both in barristers’ wigs. In “Rumpole and the Quality of Life”, the cake at Sam Ballard’s wedding to Marguerite “Matey” Plumstead, Matron of the Old Bailey, is topped with a man in barrister’s garb and a woman dressed as an old-fashioned nurse in a blue gown, white apron with red cross, and white hat.

Can’t Hold His Liquor : Samuel “Soapy Sam” Ballard, QC, gets absolutely blotto — as in fall-on-the-floor, can’t-remember-how-many-drinks-he’s had, crazy drunk — after a mere five small glasses of sherry. So, he opts for sparkling water instead. Can’t Live with Them, Can’t Live without Them : The ever-antagonistic Rumpoles may not love each other, exactly, but they occasionally show signs of a deep-seated loyalty.

Horace learns to dance to make Hilda happy; Hilda fiercely defends Horace in “Rumpole on Trial”; and they prove themselves unbeatable when they join forces in the Batman Gambit discussed above. Casting Gag : Peter Cellier as Sir Frank Fawcett, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Defence, in “Rumpole and the Official Secret”, doubtless referencing his recurring role as Permanent Secretary to the Treasury Sir Frank Gordon in Yes, Minister,

The Attorney General in the same episode, Donald Pickering, played Sir Richard Wharton in Yes, Minister too. Catchphrase :

Rumpole has the “Golden Thread of British justice” and “never plead guilty” as personal mantras. Percy Hoskins had variants of “speaking as a man with daughters”. This was lampshaded in “Rumpole and The Quality of Life” when he started out “I speak as a man with daughters” and Rumpole, Ballard and Uncle Tom all finished his sentence for him and echoed the word “daughters” around the room.

Celibate Hero : According to the novels, the Rumpoles had sex exactly once, on their honeymoon, which explains how they managed to have a child. Other than that, no, and Horace has only been Mistaken for Cheating, Although he was tempted by the feminine wiles, of Kathy Trelawney and Elizabeth Casterini.

A literal one occurs in “Rumpole and the Fascist Beast”. The gun is in the titular “fascist beast”‘s shed, where he keeps birds, hidden under the bird seed. He commits suicide after his acquittal leads to the local chapter of the party — an obvious stand-in for the BNP or National Front — unseating him. Another literal Chekhov’s Gun appears in Rumpole and the Show Folk ; whilst demonstrating with a gun in court, Rumpole notices that the hammer is extremely prone to going off accidentally when cocked, which becomes relevant when the defendant testifies to the gun going off accidentally in self defence. Subverted when it’s revealed the defendant did actually murder the victim in cold blood and was just very good at covering her tracks.

Chuck Cunningham Syndrome : After actor Richard Murdoch’s death in 1990, Uncle Tom vanished without an explanation. Church of Happyology : In “Rumpole’s Return” the defendant believes he has fallen afoul of religious group, based in Florida, which has ordered him to be framed for crime.

1. The church all live in a large compound to which outsiders are forbidden and members are locked in, and joining it requires signing a legal contract giving them all their possessions and money.
2. Scattered around the compound are large paintings of “The Master” who is apparently the only way to paradise.

Cloudcuckoolander : Uncle Tom, who hasn’t had a brief in anyone’s living memory, but still happily potters around Chambers playing golf. His chief role in the show is to go off on long semi-relevant recollections of past events whenever anyone discuses anything near him.

1. It is never explained how he supports himself.) Cold Cash : Or rather, cold silver; “Rumpole and the Blind Tasting” begins with the police going through one of the Timsons’ freezers and finding Georgian silver tableware in bags of frozen peas.
2. Comically Missing the Point : Both Claude Erskine-Brown and Ballard could be prone to this.

When a psychiatrist suggested he wanted to sleep with his mother and he was asked if he did, Erskine-Brown replied, Certainly not, Mummy would never have stood for it. When Ballard was told that Erskine-Brown thought itd be easier for him to become a QC if he were a woman, Ballard replied, I think thats very silly. for a detailed rundown of the series’ flexible chronology.) Strangely, this only applies to Rumpole and his wife. The young female lawyer introduced just passing the bar in the first stories is an experienced judge in late middle age by the end, and many other characters also age, retire, and so forth.

Even stranger, the timeline of the series works just fine if you assume Rumpole was born in the 1910s (putting him in his 20s at the beginning of World War II (in which he served in the RAF groundstaff), note in his 50s at the beginning of the series note and his 70s around the end note ). Incidentally, Leo McKern was born in 1920.

Common Nonsense Jury : “Rumpole a la Carte.” Rumpole all but openly advocates a nullificatory verdict (the prosecution had objectively proved its case by any reasonable standard — health-code violations at restaurants are strict-liability offenses requiring only a showing that the offending item was present in the restaurant, and nobody doubted that a live mouse had been present on a plate of food at that restaurant).

He wins. Commuting on a Bus : Guthrie and Phyllida, after the first two series. Their actors had other commitments but they still mananged to appear in every season in some compacity. Continuity Nod : Several, especially later in the series. They often occur when a character who was formerly a regular but now isn’t (e.g.

Guthrie Featherstone or Phyllida Trant) shows up. Court-martialed : In the episode “Rumpole and the Bright Seraphim”, Rumpole is asked to defend a soldier in a court-martial and has some difficulty with the differences from the civilian courts he’s used to operating in.

• Credits Gag : The seventh (and final) series has two, in which the standard caricature of Rumpole is replaced: “Rumpole and the Children of the Devil” has Rumpole having fun with a scary mask, and “Rumpole and the Eternal Triangle” has Rumpole wearing a tuxedo and conducting an orchestra.
• Crossing the Burnt Bridge : Subverted with “Rumpole’s Last Case” which seemed like it was going to set this scenario up.

Rumpole, believing he was going to be rich and able to retire from the legal profession, took the time in his closing arguments to say exactly what he thought about Judge Bullingham. He didn’t get to finish those arguments, however. Ultimately, Phyllida managed to convince the judge that Rumpole was actually building up to saying some very nice things in the second half of his speech and stopped the judge making his complaint.

This also turned out to be Bullingham’s final appearance so (as far as we know) Rumpole never had to see him again. Cruise Episode : “Rumpole at Sea”, in which Rumpole and She Who Must Be Obeyed go on a second-honeymoon cruise. A Day in Her Apron : Rumpole faces a more realistic form of this when Hilda takes “industrial action” in “The Summer of Discontent.” The house doesn’t get enough time to go to pot, but Rumpole sets fire to his beef,

A Day in the Limelight : “Hilda’s Story,” collected in Rumpole and the Angel of Death. Deadpan Snarker :

Rumpole, in both his life but especially in his style of advocacy. Phyllida Erskine-Brown is also very good at this — possibly a function of having been trained by Rumpole. And under Mortimer’s pen, everyone gets this. See, for instance, this bit from “Rumpole and Portia”: Rumpole: If Uncle Tom goes, I go. Ballard: note That would seem to make the departure of Uncle Tom even more desirable.

Declining Promotion : Rumpole’s habit of turning down more lucrative law practices, and promotions seems all find and admirable until you remember he how often his bank account get overdrawn. In Rumpole and the Last Resort he has no money to pay utilities because a particular seedy solicitor is refusing to pay him his due from a back case.

Since Rumpole refuses to take QC, he’s therefore a “junior” barrister and often finds himself sitting second chair on cases to QCs and he often works to have them removed from the case (usually by impressing the client well enough that they just want Rumpole as their brief) so he can defend them properly.

Defeat Means Friendship : Rumpole’s underhand defeat of Phyllida Trant in their first courtroom encounter in Rumpole and the Married Lady, Referred to quite a bit in later episodes. Description Cut : A rather subtle one in “Rumpole on Trial”. A man in court is quoting from the book of proverbs, “It is better to dwell in a corner of the housetop than with a brawling woman in a wide house.

It is better to dwell in the wilderness than with a contentious and an angry woman.” Then the scene immediately shifts to Hilda walking down the street. Dirty Cop : Detective Inspector “Dirty” Dickerson of “Rumpole and the Learned Friends,” who runs a sort of protection racket with the “minor villains” in his area of South London (usually by planting evidence of some crime — whether or not they committed it — and then blackmailing them with it) and is all too happy to perjure himself.

Downer Ending : Several examples, but few with long-lasting consequences. One of the most notable occurs at the end of “Rumpole and the Man of God”, where Rumpole’s involvement in a case long ago causes him to permanently fall out with George Frobisher, who had consistently been Rumpole’s best friend up to that point in the series.

One of the characters in “Rumpole and the Official Secret” winds up throwing himself under a train. In “Rumpole and the Facist Beast” Rumpole’s client is acquitted but ends up being made a fool of in the process and dismissed by his far right political party for supposedly humiliating their cause. He decides he can’t stand it and shoots himself.

Dysfunctional Family : the Rumpoles (particularly obvious in the original teleplay, which was darker in tone than the later episodes). Early-Installment Weirdness : In the original Play for Today episode, Rumpole initially advises his client to plead guilty, believing his case is hopeless, and only changes his mind when the client insists that he didn’t do it.

In the series proper, Rumpole’s motto (others even call it his religion) is “never plead guilty” – he never even considers the possibility of advising his client to do so unless they explicitly tell him that they did it, and even then he prefers to withdraw from the case and let another barrister take over.

The only exception occurs where a serious charge to which the client pleaded not guilty is dropped mid-trial when Rumpole provides new evidence, leaving the client willing to plead guilty to a lesser charge that he’d always admitted to. Eek, a Mouse!! : In “Rumpole a la Carte”.

Admittedly, a plate in a three-Michelin-star restaurant is the last place you would expect to find a live mouse, but do you really have to stand on your chair and shriek? Embarrassing Middle Name : Claude Leonard Erskine-Brown. Rumpole exhibits unbridled joy reciting it when he learns it just before his cross-examination of Erskine-Brown in “Rumpole a la Carte”,

Rumpole : *gleefully* Leonard? He’s not owned up to that before! Empty Nest : Rumpole and Hilda are going through this in “Rumpole and the Married Lady” with their son having graduated college, gotten married and emigrated to America. Hilda worries about the state of their marriage, even lamenting that without their son around then what did that make them? Rumpole has slumped into depression at the start, having not gone to work at chambers for some time and just sitting around in his dressing gown all day.

Hilda does this to Rumpole when she suspects him of having a fling with the young girlfriend of an elderly artist. Unfairly; he was just at a pub to collect evidence. Rumpole exiles himself after a particular disastrous night at the Scales of Justice Ball, where he tells a “blue” story that offends both Hilda and the prudish Welsh judge he was sitting next to. He ends up living in chambers for a while, to Ballard’s displeasure, forcing him to move in with the Erskine-Browns. Eventually the Erskine-Browns get fed up with him (and he gets fed up with young Tristan and Isolde Erskine-Brown’s incessant complaints about his smoking), and he ends his self-imposed exile. but not before he forces Ballard to spend a night at chambers himself. Claude Erskine-Brown eventually is himself forced to live with Rumpole after the “Kitten a-Go-Go” flap (“Rumpole and the Bubble Reputation”); at first Hilda takes great delight in annoying Rumpole with Erskine-Brown’s holier-than-thou habits, but she eventually tires of his incessant playing of opera tapes.

Faking the Dead : See Batman Gambit above, And the entire scheme serves as the setup to one TV’s greatest Overly Preprepared Gag moments: Rumpole, after it’s revealed he’s alive: “It must have come as a huge relief for those who heard Rumpole had kicked the bucket, to hear he had just turned a little pail.” “Fawlty Towers” Plot : A good number of the B-Plots fall into this category.

The one about sexual harassment in “Rumpole and the Eternal Triangle” fits particularly well. Female Misogynist : During one of his complaints about the various unreasonable judges he has to work with, Rumpole singles out a female judge as a worse male chauvinist than any of the men. Feuding Families : The Timsons and the Molloys, two families of South London villians who have not been on speaking terms ever since a Molloy betrayed a Timson in the Streatham Co-op Robbery.

More than once in the series, the police attempt to use a Molloy as a “grass” to get the goods on a Timson, rarely with good results. Fiery Redhead : Phyllida (Trant) Erskine-Brown and the first Liz Probert (played by Samantha Bond). Flanderization :

At the beginning of the series, Claude Erskine-Brown is a somewhat pompous but nevertheless effective barrister with a thriving civil practice. By the end, he’s an incompetent and completely un-self-aware milquetoast. Lampshaded when Erskine-Brown complains to Rumpole about how he’s been reduced to “scraping the bottom of your barrel.” Also, at the beginning of the series, Erskine-Brown is an all-around devotee of classical music in general and opera in particular, whereas at the end he focuses exclusively on Wagner. Mr. Justice Oliphant went from mentioning “common sense” and his blunt Northern heritage once or twice a trial to practically every line.

Flaw Exploitation : Phyllida Erskine-Brown exploits Sam Ballard’s sexual hypocrisy in order to get Claude his promotion to QC. Florence Nightingale Effect : How Marguerite (“Matey”) gets Sam Ballard to marry her. Forging the Will : One story revolves around a forged will; Rumpole is retained by the true beneficiary to represent her in challenging the false will.

(He’s initially reluctant to venture into a civil court case, but he can’t resist a good forgery.) Former Teen Rebel : Sam Ballard. In the later novels and short stories, he and his teenage rock group get back together for jam sessions. Ironically, Rumpole thought spilling the beans on his dread past would embarrass him, but instead people in chambers conclude he is less stuffy than they thought.

For Your Own Good : In “Rumpole and the Reform of Joby Jonson,” Sam Ballard, in an uncharacteristic Hurricane of Puns, kindly explains to Claude Erskine-Brown that no, he couldn’t possibly recommend Claude for promotion to QC. The result is an equally uncharacteristic What the Hell, Hero?,

French Cuisine Is Haughty : La Maison Jean-Pierre, run by Jean-Pierre O’Higgins, in “Rumpole a la Carte” is an epitome — but it’s not quite so stuffy after Rumpole defends him. Friendly Enemy : The members of Number 3, Equity Court often find themselves on opposite sides of a case, but are friendly enough to each other, usually.

Gilligan Cut : In “Rumpole at Sea,” Hilda wants to take a sea cruise. Rumpole doesn’t. He tells her to get one thing clear, that he is not going on any cruise, no, no, NO. Good Lawyers, Good Clients : Subverted. While it is true that almost all of Rumpole’s clients that we see are in fact innocent of the crime they’re on trial for, they are very frequently guilty of some other crime.

This is particularly true of the Timsons, a clan of South London ” minor villains ” who make their living off of petty larceny and fencing, and whose fees seem to pay a fair chunk of Rumpole’s own bills. There’s also more than one Downer Ending where Rumpole’s client tells him after he’s got them off that they were in fact guilty and thanks to the double jeopardy rule there’s nothing he can do about it.

Got Me Doing It : Rumpole repeatedly calls the young Charles Hearthstoke “Hearthrug”. At one point, he does it in front of Mr Justice Featherstone, who once follows suit. Grand Finale :

Most season finales where written in a way to wrap up the show, because Leo McKern, although he enjoyed the role, wanted to avoid typecasting and was frustrated how it seemed to overshadow his other works (much like Alec Guinness with Star Wars), but John Mortimer convinced him to keep coming back. The ultimate finale was “Rumpole on Trial”, where all of the cast main and supporting reunite for a party, at the end. In the final novel published, Rumpole Misbehaves, Rumpole makes a serious attempt to become a QC, because his client wants a QC, and only a QC to defend him. He doesn’t get it because during a cross examination he implied that a Home Office official was connected to a prostitution ring much to anger of the presiding judge, who happens to be on the Committee that grants applications for QCs.

Hanging Judge : Most of the judges Rumpole encounters are not impartial. They tend to act as a second prosecutor.

Mr Justice Roger “the Mad Bull” Bullingham “Rumpole and the Sporting Life” features an unusual and literal example in the elderly Mr Justice Twyburne, who once sentenced a man to hang for killing a policeman. The man was later proven innocent, a fact which has preyed on Twyburne’s conscience ever since.

Hangover Sensitivity : There’s at least one episode of wherein Rumpole, after a night of “carousing” with Henry the clerk, has to come in to court shading his eyes. Happy-Ending Massage : “Rumpole and the Judge’s Elbow”. Featherstone, presiding in this case, thinks he went to a parlor where these were provided, although he didn’t partake and wasn’t even aware of the possibility.

Hilarity Ensues, Harmless Villain : The Timson clan, very, very low-level crooks (“minor villains” is what Rumpole likes to call them) whom Rumpole defends on a regular basis (they appear to be his primary source of income, and at one point he refers to himself as being “CT — Counsel to the Timsons.”).

They are quite proud that they never resort to violence, only what Rumpole and Mortimer call “ordinary decent crime.” Henpecked Husband :

Rumpole. His nickname for Hilda is “She Who Must Be Obeyed”. Sam Ballard Claude Erskine-Brown is in the same boat, but Phyllida tries to be subtler about it. And Guthrie Featherstone, whose wife is constantly pushing him to the next-higher position.

Hidden Depths : Claude Erskine-Brown appears to be a foppish, reactionary twit.and he is. However when Phyllida Trant discovers that they’re going to have a baby she assumes he’ll expect her to become a housewife as a result only to find out he never even considered asking her to give up her career and is quite willing, even overjoyed, to share parenting duties.

High-Class Call Girl : Played with in “Rumpole and the Old Boy Net”: Rumpole’s clients were a middle-aged couple who ran a brothel for a high-class clientele. None of the actual prostitutes were in any way significant, and they weren’t call girls (working as they were at a brothel), but the general idea (of a high-class prostitute) applies.

Holier Than Thou : Sam Ballard. One wonders why he didn’t become a cleric instead of a barrister. The Humphrey : Rumpole is a heroic variation- he knows and exploits the politics and follies of the legal system, but tries to pursue justice when possible.

Hunting “Accident” : “Rumpole and the Sporting Life” revolves around a death that may have been murder or a genuine hunting accident. It was a genuine accident—though not by Rumpole’s client, the victim’s wife (who intentionally shot her husband’s dead body to protect her lover, whom she mistakenly thought had killed him) but by his tenant and neighbour (who had actually killed the victim while illegally shooting pheasants from his window).

I Coulda Been a Contender! : Rumpole is a variation in that his wife is disappointed that he hasn’t achieved greater financial and career success, nor become head of chambers like her father was. Rumpole, on the other hand, is perfectly happy where he is, and has no interest in becoming a “Queer Customer” or “Circus Judge.” In Da Club : Bizarrely and briefly.

Phyllida Trant talks Claude Erskine-Brown (then just her boyfriend) into going to a fairly typical disco club after what was for her a thoroughly bored night at the opera, where they find none other than Guthrie Featherstone dancing in a tiger-print shirt with Angela, one of the junior clerks at chambers.

Well, it was 1979, Incompetence, Inc. : In “Rumpole and the Heavy Brigade”, Rumpole has acquired a reputation as such, following a run of poor cases in district court. On return to The Bailey he is then hired as part of a Springtime for Hitler plot by a pair of gangsters hoping to get their stuttering brother convicted to cover up their own crime.

However Rumpole is fired up by the return to the Bailey, a number of mean remarks about his dress sense, and the prospect of defending a nice juicy murder rather than common assaults or indecent exposure cases found in district court, and manages to win it instead. Irregular Series : Released intermittently from 1978 to 1992.

Jaded Washout : Rumpole. He’s still a competent barrister but his most famous days were the Penge Bungalow Murders after WWII. His practice is not as successful as it once was, he’s considered an embarrassment by his peers, and a disappointment to his wife.

Justified Criminal : Most pitiably, a music hall singer who murdered her violently abusive husband, only to find herself years later on the same cruise ship with the judge who presided over her trial. Large Ham : Rumpole’s modus operandi for much of his dealings with other people, and particularly his advocacy.

He’s called out on it by some theatrical actors in Rumpole and the Show Folk, Last-Name Basis : Most everybody with respect to everybody else. Vanishingly few people call Rumpole “Horace;” not even Hilda. This is actually accepted practice amongst many members of the Bar, first names generally only being used between barristers who are on a very informal footing.

We can see this with Rumpole and George Frobisher, who are (in early seasons) close friends ( They have something of a falling-out after Rumpole’s first case before Frobisher as a circuit judge ) and call each other “Horace” and “George”. Lame Rhyme Dodge : Rumpole’s habit of talking to himself frequently asserts itself at the wrong time, leading to some rapid backtracking.

Horace Rumpole: She who must be. Hilda Rumpole: What? Horace Rumpole: I said “trust me,” Hilda. I shall always be a staunch supporter of women’s rights. Last-Second Word Swap : Rumpole almost introduces Hilda as “She who must be obeyed” at a party. Horace Rumpole: She who must be.

• Mrs. Rumpole.
• A Lighter Shade of Grey : Judge Graves, who more or less takes over as the series’ main judge after Judge Bullingham stopped appearing, is also vindictive and prejudicial with a grudge against Rumpole but he’s less so than “The Mad Bull” and, going by Rumpole At Sea, he does genuinely have an interest in seeing justice done (albeit badly misdirected in that case) and confesses that he regards Rumpole as a Worthy Opponent and that life would be duller without him.

By contrast Bullingham seemed mostly unconcerned with justice so much as getting the chance to punish others and would happily be done with Rumpole forever. Lethal Chef : Rumpole, as evidenced by the flaming bits of meat in “Rumpole and the Summer of Discontent.” Malicious Misnaming : When Rumpole is feeling ill-disposed towards Ballard (which is most of the time), he calls him “Bollard”.

When Rumpole visits Nuranga, a former British colony, the rather old-fashioned British High Commissioner is named Sir Arthur Remnant. An occasional theme with the series’ Judges: Judge Bullingham is a very bullish sort of person, Judge Graves is described as being so serious minded as to be barely alive (and has a somewhat somewhat skeletal look to him) and Judge Twyburne is one of the few remaining judges who ever sentenced someone to death before the UK abolished the death penalty for murder in 1965 and has a name similar to the famous Tyburn gallows.

Mistaken for Cheating :

Subverted with Claude Erskine-Brown, who attempts to cheat and fails miserably. And averted once with Featherstone, who actually was cheating with Angela (the left-wing junior clerk). In “Rumpole and the Married Lady” a series of partially overheard phonecalls by Hilda, listening in to Rumpole having to deal with a somewhat overwrought and needy female client during a bitter divorce, leads her to think that Rumpole may be cheating on her. Hilda even briefly moves out to visit a friend, but thankfully realises that for all his faults that Rumpole is not the cheating sort.

Mistaken for Gay : One of Liz Probert’s boyfriends (Dave Inchcape) makes it into Chambers because Claude Erskine-Brown believes that he’s gay. This led to a rather hilarious exchange when Claude was attempting to interview the man and was alluding to him being gay, but Dave thought he was talking about him being a barrister. Dave Inchcape: Well, I expect you want to know a bit about my experience. Claude Erskine-Brown Good heavens, no. Dave Inchcape: You don’t? Claude Erskine-Brown: No, no, no, no. I take the attitude, Dave, that your experiences are entirely a matter between you andwell, whoever you’ve had the experiences with. Dave Inchcape: Tomkins in Testament Buildings. Claude Erskine-Brown: Please, don’t tell me! It’s absolutely none of my business.You mean Tommy Tomkins? Dave Inchcape: Yes, I was with him for about a year. Claude Erskine-Brown: But I thought Tommy was married to a lady magistrate? Dave Inchcape: So he is. Does that make a difference? Claude Erskine-Brown: Well, not nowadays, I suppose. Murder Is the Best Solution : “Rumpole and the Quality of Life.” My Greatest Failure : Judge Twyburne once sentenced a man to death for murder shortly before the death penalty was removed for murder in 1965 and the young man was later proven to be innocent. This has clearly preyed on his mind ever since and, when Rumpole brings it up, the guilt leads to him favouring the defence in Rumpole’s case. My Local : Pommeroy’s Wine Bar. Mystery Writer Detective : Played with in “Rumpole At Sea”, where a mystery writer tries to play detective after a mysterious event on the cruise ship, and comes up with an entirely inaccurate theory about what happened. Never Learned to Read : One episode has Rumpole proving that a confession was coerced because the defendant can’t read or write, and thus couldn’t have written it/known what he was signing. The Nicknamer : Rumpole himself. Nipple and Dimed : Averted, as the series aired after the Watershed, A stripper in “Rumpole and the Bubble Reputation” and an artist’s model in “Rumpole and the Quality of Life” are both depicted with their assets clearly displayed. No Celebrities Were Harmed : The “Ostlers” of the (fictional) town of Gunster in “Rumpole and the Right to Silence” bear a ( lampshaded ) resemblance to the Freemasons.

“Justitia” in “Rumpole and the Golden Thread” is a clear Expy for Amnesty International. And a semi-autobiographical reference to one Mortimer’s own cases.

Noodle Incident : Rumpole’s greatest professional success, the case of the Penge Bungalow Murders, was a Noodle Incident for almost three decades before recently being told in a novel surprisingly named Rumpole and the Penge Bungalow Murders, No Party Given : Averted where applicable.

The third episode, “Rumpole and the Honourable Member”, features an MP clearly identified as Labour accused of rape by his left-wing “Trot” campaign worker. Another episode, “Rumpole and the Fascist Beast”, subverts this by having Rumpole defending a far-right politician from the “British Patriots,” which doesn’t exist but is clearly based on the National Front or British National Party. Guthrie Featherstone QC MP is clearly identified as having joined the Social Democratic Party shortly before becoming a judge. When Featherstone is still in practice as a barrister, Rumpole often identifies him as a “Conservative-Labour” politician — i.e., too indecisive to be possessed of any great political conviction. It’s implied that he joined the Social Democrats mainly because it kept him from having to choose a side.

Actually Featherstone was an MP before he joined the SDP. That party was founded by Labour defectors, so it’s likely he was originally a Labour MP.

Charles Hearthstoke says he’s standing as a Tory candidate for his local council when discussing radical change at chambers with. Liz Probert, daughter of “Red Ron” Probert, a left-wing Labour leader of a North London borough council; she takes after her father. As for why Hearthstoke was talking to Probert about change in the chambers, he argued that the fact they were both young would make them both favor modernisation. However, it’s pretty clear that he just wants to get into her pants (or is it her robes when discussing barristers?). Phyllida Trant, while chewing out her then-boyfriend Claude Erskine-Brown, mentions his “inexplicable approval of Mrs Thatcher ” (or something to that effect) as one thing she’s willing to accept, implying that Erskine-Brown is a Tory and that Phyllida isn’t.

No Sense of Humor : Sam Ballard and, often, Claude Erskine-Brown. Ballard’s humorlessness is usually of the Literal-Minded variety. Not-So-Innocent Whistle : Rumpole puts on one of these in “Rumpole and the Last Resort” when he tries to nonchalantly walk out of his bank after bouncing a cheque.

It fools nobody, and his Inner Monologue notes he ought to have just made a dash for it instead. Obfuscating Stupidity : Rumpole occasionally uses this when he’s trying to get something, especially if he’s trying to get it from Hilda. Office Golf : Uncle Tom’s primary occupation, besides making bizarre comments at Chambers meetings and completely misunderstanding anything anyone says within earshot of him.

Old-Fashioned Copper : Detective Inspector Brush, depicted most negatively. Only Known by Their Nickname : T.C. Rowley, called Uncle Tom by even an ultra-stuffy character like Ballard. Oop North : Mr Justice Oliphant is very proud of being from there, and it drives Rumpole to distraction.

1. Open Mouth, Insert Foot : Mr Justice Featherstone has this problem; Rumpole even mentions it by name in his worst instance (“Rumpole and the Tap End”).
2. Open Secret : Hilda knows perfectly well that Rumpole calls her She Who Must Be Obeyed.
3. Plea Bargain : Despite his maxim “never plead guilty” he does at times engage in plea-bargaining, particularly when he knows the judge to be sympathetic.

He tries at this — and Phyllida Trant, who was prosecuting, quite agreed — in “Rumpole and the Course of True Love,” but George Frobisher couldn’t guarantee that the client wouldn’t do prison time. “Rumpole and the Tap End” starts with just one of these, where he got an attempted murder reduced to actual bodily harm before Featherstone, and the client was bound over.

That is where the trouble began, however. Preacher’s Kid : Rumpole doesn’t mention it often, but his father was a vicar, and his childhood home was a vicarage. Naturally, Rumpole has less use for organised religion than anyone else in the series. Precision F-Strike : The series is generally devoid of profanity.

A notable exception to this is when Hilda complains that Rumpole never told her he was going to be passed over for head of chambers for the newly arrived Ballard QC, Rumpole simply replies that he has fucked it, with the line being delivered in such a way that you have to rewatch a few times just to discern that the word said isnt funked.

Nick Rumpole moves to America to become a Professor of Sociology first at Baltimore then Miami. He isn’t seen after the first two series. Judge Bullingham was written out after his actor passed away after series four. However, this does not apply to books where Judge Bullingham was still a regular supporting character up to the very end. David Inchcape is not so much as mentioned after “Rumpole On Trial”, opening the way for Liz to be hit on by other men.

Rank Up : Phyllida Trant begins the series as a junior barrister and ends it as a High Court judge, Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil : Played with and discussed in Rumpole and the Honourable Member. Rumpole treated everything about the case with the same level of sobriety and respect that he would any other crime (read: very little).

However, this wasnt shown to be because he didnt regard rape as a serious crime but rather because he believed a man whos innocent of rape (as he always assumes his clients to be innocent) deserves just as thorough a defence as one whos innocent of petty theft. At the same time, Rumpole acknowledged that everyone in the courtroom would regard the crime differently particularly because it was a rape.

Nick’s fiancée Erica is shocked by the way he would attack the alleged victim which led Rumpole to challenge her on whether its fair that a lower standard of proof (the victims word) should exist for rape as opposed to other crimes. It’s clear Rumpole’s attitude created a falling out between father and son, leading to Nick moving to America.

1. Real Life Writes the Plot : A number of storylines are a Whole-Plot Reference lifted from the headlines; for instance Rumpole and the Children of the Devil tackled the spurious accusations of ritual Satanic abuse that created a moral panic.
2. Recycled Plot : After BBC Radio 4 did an adaption of Rumpole and the Penge Bungalow Murders with Benedict Cumberbatch as the young Rumpole, they began producing more plays featuring Benedict’s Rumpole that were just reworked version of John Mortimer’s old scripts.

Retcon : Somewhere along the line in the books Judge Roger Bullingham became Judge Leonard Bullingham. Whether or not they are the same charcter is open to fan debate. Running Gag :

“Speaking as a man with daughters.” Rumpole will recite the romantic poets, but mostly Wordsworth, at the least provocation. Or none. Hilda’s obsession with her “Daddy”, C.H. Wystan. Claude Erskine-Brown’s obsession with Opera ; Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg gets mentioned a lot.

Satchel Switcheroo : Rumpole accidentally walks off with Uncle Tom’s briefcase, discovering the switch only when he opens it. In court. Hilarity Ensues, Screw the Money, I Have Rules! : Rumpole’s attitude towards prosecuting, taking silk, and becoming a judge. He is tempted, every now and then, but he always falls back to his old habits.

In “Rumpole and the Bubble Reputation,” he has taken on a civil libel suit defending the editor of a London tabloid, the highest-paying case of his career, which promises to fund his retirement. Then he discovers the entire lawsuit is a fraud cooked up between his client and the plaintiff (to extract money from the co-defendant, the corporation that publishes the tabloid; the plaintiff—a writer of sappy romance novels—and Rumpole’s client are actually lovers). Rather than continue with the case, he blackmails the client into making sure the case is dropped, and instructs his solicitors to return the client’s money,

Screw the Rules, I Have Connections! : How Sam Ballard is able to become Head of Chambers, despite being a new member. He’s part of Guthrie’s “Old Boy Net”. Second-Face Smoke : Rumpole does this to some of the more priggish characters, especially Ballard.

Series Continuity Error : Rumpole speaks of Professor Ackerman as the famous pathologist from the Penge Bungalow Murders, then in and the Expert Witness it was Dr Dacre, before finally becoming, in the Penge Bungalow Murders story itself, Dr Phillimore. Sexless Marriage : The Rumpoles (see Celibate Hero above).

“Rumpole at Sea” suggests that this may not entirely be Hilda’s doing. Shout-Out : “The Dear Departed” contains several shout-outs to Richard II, Rumpole opens and closes with a quote from the play (“Let’s talk of graves, and worms, and epitaphs.”).

The solicitors in his will case are Mowbray and Pontefract — Mowbray being the accused knight whose duel opens Richard II, and Pontefract (Pomfret) being the castle where Richard is imprisoned at the end of the play. Silent Snarker : A lot of Rumpole’s snark is actually delivered in voiceovers, audible only to viewers.

One of the running gags is the frequent discrepancy between Rumpole’s internal snarking and his external restraint. For instance, from “Rumpole and the Old, Old Story”: Solicitor: What do you think of the prosecution, Mr. Rumpole? Rumpole: I think if it were conducted by a nervous first-year law student with a serious speech impediment they’d still get a conviction.

1. Rumpole: Well, we do face certain difficulties.
2. Sophisticated as Hell : Ballard: Look here, Rumpole, I would advise you to take this matter seriously.
3. Rumpole: And I would advise you, Bollard, if you can find a taxidermist willing to undertake the work, to get stuffed.
4. Springtime for Hitler : “Rumpole and the Heavy Brigade” has Rumpole hired in one of these by a pair of gangsters, convinced that his reputation as Incompetence, Inc.

following a run of poor cases in district court will ensure their stuttering brother will go down in order to cover up their own crimes. Stern Old Judge : Most of the judges Rumpole deals with that aren’t a Hanging Judge or Guthrie Featherstone are this instead.

• Straight Man : Just about everybody plays this part for Rumpole.
• Straw Feminist : Liz Probert (mostly in the later novels and short stories).
• The following quote from “Rumpole and Portia” demonstrates her attitude (after Phillida was seen having lunch with another man in the park).
• Liz Probert: The point for you to understand is what you’ve done to Phillida as a woman.

Claude Erskine-Brown: What I’ve done? Liz Probert: Well don’t tell me you haven’t driven her to it. If a woman does something like that it’s always the husband’s fault, isn’t it? Claude Erskine-Brown: And if a man does something like that? Liz Probert: Well, then, it’s always his fault.,) Theme Naming : Claude and Phyllida’s children are named Tristan and Isolde, Teacher/Student Romance : In the episode “Rumpole and the Course of True Love”, the case Rumpole is defending is a young high school teacher who slept with his student. Teeth-Clenched Teamwork : In the final episode, “Rumpole on Trial,” Hilda dragoons Ballard into defending Rumpole after he insults Justice Oliphant.

Ballard is horrified and Rumpole initially uncooperative, but Ballard for once manages to be effective: he convinces Oliphant that it would look better if he accepted an apology from Rumpole. Token Minority : Lampshaded and eventually subverted in Rumpole and the Fascist Beast ; Rumpole takes on Indian Latif Khan as a pupil, much to the surprise of everyone in chambers and to the disgust of his racist defendant (it’s left unclear as to whether Rumpole deliberately took on an Indian to either annoy his client or make his client look better in court).

However, it’s clear that Khan has been coerced up the ladder by his rich father and he’s dismissive of Phyllida after she attempts to bond with him over their “oppressed minority” status. because she’s a woman, Trademark Favorite Food : Steak-and-kidney pudding for Rumpole, who makes the mistake of ordering it in a swank French place.

• Two Lines, No Waiting : Pretty much every episode features an A plot — the case of the week — and a B plot revolving around some intrigue in chambers, or some intrigue in Rumpole’s household.
• Twisting the Words : Inversion or Subversion, depending on your perspective: Rumpole often asks witnesses on the stand who heard someone say something or another if they were sure it had the emphasis they recalled.

The Usurper : Rumpole is the senior man in Chambers, and was most likely to succeed his father-in-law as Head of Chambers, until Guthrie Featherstone became QC. In Series Three, Guthrie is about to become a judge and Rumpole looks like he’s about to take the job.until Guthrie’s old friend Sam Ballard comes into town, looking for a place in Chambers.

Unconventional Courtroom Tactics : When Rumpole is invited to lecture on law in one episode, one of his colleagues remarks that he knows very little about law but everything there is to know about how to distract the jury while one’s opponent is summing up. And unlike most seen on television, they generally aren’t the sort of thing that could get one charged with contempt of court; Mortimer was a practicing lawyer and knew just what you could reasonably expect to get away with in a court of law.

Unusual Pop Culture Name : The Erskine-Browns named their children Tristan and Isolde after Claude’s favourite opera. The questionable wisdom of naming a brother and sister after two legendary lovers goes oddly unremarked. Unwitting Pawn : Sam Ballard has a habit of falling for the traps Rumpole lays for him.

• Video Inside, Film Outside : Eventually dropped, in Season 4, when it went all-video.
• White Sheep : In “Rumpole and the Barrow Boy”, one of the Timsons goes to school, studies, and gets a high-paying finance job in the City.
• And is the one set up to be blamed for financial irregularities at his place of employment by his father-in-law-to-be, who is not happy at finding out about young Timson’s family, even though he’s never done anything wrong himself,

Women Are Wiser : Female barristers and judges (e.g., Liz Probert, Fiona Allways, Phillida Erskine-Brown, Mrs. Justice Appleby) are always shown as intelligent and highly competent at their jobs, and foes worthy of Rumpole’s steel, Bumbling barristers and dimwitted judges are always male.

Even female criminals (such as April Timson in “The Female of the Species” or the killer in “The Angel of Death”) are shown as far more skillful and composed than the foolish, cowardly male crooks Rumpole usually defends and exposes. Also barristers’ wives are usually included as well; Hilda Rumpole and Marigold Featherstone are, while often terrible snobs, a force to be reckoned with.

Worthy Opponent :

Often stated by Rumpole whenever he’s up against a good barrister. Judges are not actually barristers’ opponents, but there are some judges whom Rumpole cannot stand both personally and professionally (he thinks they’re hostile to the defence). Of these, Mr. Justice Graves, though in court he seems entirely to reciprocate Rumpole’s attitude, indicates to others outside court that he has a certain respect for his principles and advocacy skills, and acknowledges that life would be duller without him. Jean-Pierre O’Higgins specifically picked Rumpole to defend him because Rumpole had given as good as he got when they quarrelled in O’Higgins restaurant.

Writers Cannot Do Math : Used in-universe in “Rumpole and the Bubble Reputation”, where Rumpole is cross examing a writer of pseudo-historical fiction on the stand and points out that the ages of her character make no sense as she entirely forgotten to account for the Commonwealth and Oliver Cromwell between the Battle of Naseby and the coronation of Charles II and is thus off by 16 years.

Why is it called the Old Bailey?

New building – Extremely poor conditions for prisoners and the fast spreading of many diseases, meant a new prison was needed. Completed in 1785, the Old Bailey, named after the street besides the new prison, soon became popular as the scene of hanging of those sentenced to death.

Who is the main character in the end of eternity?

Andrew Harlan is an Eternal, a member of the elite of the future. One of the few who live in Eternity, a location outside of place and time, Harlan’s job is to create carefully controlled and enacted Reality Changes.

Who are the characters in a touch of eternity

245 reviews Read October 18, 2021 How can something be so good but so bad at the same time!? I don’t know how to rate this. Also there were a lot of spelling mistakes. At some places I wanted to give it 4 stars and 2 at some so yeah. Author 6 books 64 followers March 3, 2021 It started off well and had a different concept which was alluring since Durjoy Datta does not write this genre. However, upon reaching the mid of the book it kept dragging and all of a sudden there was a lot of sci-fi context thrown at readers.

Now frankly, I don’t mind that but it has to meet the momentum and mood of the entire book. For some reason, it tried sailing on both the romance angle and the sci-fi angle and it did not work for me (it may work for you). And then, the climax was too far-fetched. I’d say again, I’m okay with sci-fi but then the entire mood of the book should set up for that.

Sadly, this book felt all over the place. 2,236 reviews 44 followers April 12, 2021 This time Durjoy dutta did something fabulous with writing, He use perfect sarcasm and names to place his point of view, and if anyone mentioned characters have to defame this book they have to actually admit it that there are name is, and its and Ultimate comic relief moment of reading changed names, and i know that he bit exaggerated the science fiction theory behind the novel and concept of Soulmates and soul re-incarnation and soul transfer thing, A story of couple Anvesha and Dhruvan who were born same time same hospital and neighborhood lovers had some really good chemistry and qualities of lovers and rebels, a story of conspiracy theory analyst girl who see world with crooked glass and a simpleton book nerd who want to do something to make his love and parents proud of him by getting his merits academic qualifications.

A story of Acharya family who are actual the puppeteer of the current government and its supporters and influential family who have done and earned a great fortune that they hold power to build and destroy anything and have issues and want a dictator Government run by elites to get more rich and powerful.

Although this story is not completed as Dhruvan and Anvesha were writing down the book when events they went through in life give them a tough and rough relationship ups and down. Changes name of character are recognisable and one can easily decipher whom is it talked about and final jab of @thisisravinder name was nail in coffin of comic relief and it was really funny 1 review April 12, 2021 I was really excited to read this book as I have enjoyed the other books by the author plus this book was out in January ( birthday month 😉).and how can forget this beautiful book cover.it’s just soooo pretty 😍❤. This Book started well and is unique from the earlier concepts of Durjoy Datta’s books.

• But I started to lose interest in it as the book progressed.it felt like the story was being stretched till it reached halfway.
• But I enjoyed how each character progressed in the story, along with crossing the difficulties that came their way.
• Here Druvan and Anvesha are shown as soul mates.
• Interesting, it was to see how the author showed them soulmates in every sense.

So in the first half, the story was at a moderate pace and as the story unfolded from the second half, everything goes fast pace. So from halfway, the story goes under a major change as suddenly there is a lot of SciFi coming your way. Honestly, I love SciFi and so it was not a major issue for me.

I enjoyed the scifi part as that was so detailed and I really appreciate the author’s efforts for researching this much and put it out for us, beautifully. Like it’s obviously fiction but some parts of the research such as old beliefs are true. Like there is suddenly a new world in front of you, with all those science experiments, soul transfer, scientific research, political drama, reincarnation and of course the story of our soulmates evolved.

The author wanted to keep the harmony between romance and SciFi, but it somewhere went wrong. And the ending was very unpredictable and is not something that you might wish for, plus the ending was wrapped too quickly. At some point, it would surely force you to question your beliefs and even sometimes you would need to Google some concepts to know if it was true or not. 11 reviews 4 followers February 7, 2021 After reading this book I am pretty sure, “Data Science is Future!” Anyways, coming back to the book. It was an okay read. The concept of soul transfer was not new to me and therefore it didn’t leave me totally flabbergasted. 240 reviews 6 followers September 9, 2021 What was this? A science fiction or just the imagination of a writer gone amok. To begin with the story seemed interesting and the way it was being developed was also quite good. However, then came the scientific angle which seems too frivolous to even give it a benefit of doubt. I love Durjoy Datta’s books and this one disappointed me. 54 reviews 2 followers March 10, 2021 Soulmate’s = Technology The equation seems imbalanced. This was my assumption before completing this book. Technology and data science is the new future to human kind now. The impact of innovation is nowadays found in books too.

Normalising virtual reality is the new trend. Druvan and Anvesha born on the same day, same time and same place didn’t make them less than a perfect match made in heaven. Also their families being neighbors and good family friends their destiny was already verified. Although their togetherness was not acceptable to their families.

Twist drops when both their life starts depending on the new technology bought up by the parivar ruling over the country. The end brings both the lovers to do or die situations. Either they live or they die. The question still remains the same will they still remain soulmate’s forever? The struggle and sacrifice made by Druvan and Anvesha will ultimately proof the quotation 𝐄𝐤 𝐣𝐢𝐬𝐦, 𝐝𝐨 𝐣𝐚𝐚𝐧.

I am very impressed with the plot of the book. Though this book is different from all the other books written by @durjoydutta. Special acknowledgement to the research work done for this book. The hypothesis pinned actually seems true. The concept of Soul Transfer, The Rooh Collective and Soulmates Programme will force you to think twice before accepting the unbelievable concept.

If fiction and politics is your bowl of rice than definitely read this book. Imagining the non proven imagination is very unusual. 5 reviews February 6, 2021 Well, I have read quite a few Durjoy Datta’s book. Must say this book was different than others. The books is about soulmates – Druvan and Anvesha, who are born at the same time, same place. The story book shows 2 parts – One were druvan and anvesha is growing up and crossing there own hurdles, and one were country is progressing in science, eventually, there was a breakthrough in reincarnation.

So as the story progress, our soulmates are fighting a battle against death, and their only chance to survive and be together is to get into this reincarnation program. The book started well, but frankly I lost interest as it progressed. Half way through i was bored out and tried to complete it somehow, because i wanted to know the end.

And the end was not as expected. It was not really i could digest. Durjoy Datta is no doubt a great writer. But this one was not a great hit for me. Good to see he has tried si-fi in his book, a different variant. 88 reviews 145 followers May 20, 2022 Well, this is fictional i get it. But, IT’S KIND OF WEIRD IF YOU ASK ME.2 souls, LOVERS- in one body? Erm.no. some scientific/philosophical parts were interesting but if you wanna read romance? This is not it. I didn’t expect the book to be this way, but it was okay i guess. This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers. 26 reviews October 18, 2022 Whenever I think about the novel ‘A Touch Of Eternity’ I won’t be able to feel that sudden sense of normality or connectivity with it. No matter how good the read was, but, for me, it was GOOD JUST FOR THAT ONE TIME. I won’t re-read it.

And trust me I am a huge sucker for re-living, and re-reading the moments I have already lived through the books, over and over again. But for sure I won’t keep my eyes dotted on this one. At some points, I was taken aback by the unrealistic scientific and technological approaches of the novel. But the book as a whole was fulfilling and an interesting read because it had a tinge of some things which are totally unrealistic and can not happen in our world any time soon.

So, that was the only thing that kept me intrigued throughout the reading. And to pour out those intricate incidents with such a delicacy was remarkable. 184 reviews December 21, 2022 I hate it and like it at the same time. Wtf did he just write?? The names and mention of irl people was hilarious 😂 Its my 2nd Durjoy datta book. His concepts are fun but romance is too cringe yaar. Itna pyaar nahi karna tha. I love his addition of bengali everywhere

2-star book-read-in-2022 desi-authors

12 reviews April 10, 2022 A touch of Eternity was not what I was expecting! I have always loved books by Durjoy Dutta, the way he narrates a story at its own pace. His books have my daily dose of romances. The story progresses into a new concept of reincarnation, & not just the conventional way.

Mankind finally discovers the truth about the soul & its existence. The process of tracking the soul & transplanting it into humans to let a soul keep leaving with its consciousness alive. Even though the conception of the story was interesting in so many ways, where it would keep you guessing what next.

Some parts of it were silly for me. But this is a kind of a read, which you should not think about much & just enjoy what’s coming next. Among all these scientific theories, the story bloomed kinda nicely. I loved the chemistry between Druvan & Anvesha.

contemporary drama romance

17 reviews September 11, 2022 An okay read, love story somewhat got lost in between the science parts. 30 reviews 1 follower March 11, 2021 What comes to your mind when you hear the word Soulmates? “A Touch of Eternity” by Durjoy Datta is an extraordinary story of a couple Anvesha and Druvan, who were to be perfect soulmates for each other since the time they were born.

Born on the same day, at the same time, and are inseparable. But as the blurb says, when the time comes, can one stay true to their soulmate? I have read quite a few books by Durjoy Datta, but this one was different from all his previous works. I picked this up, first because it was from Durjoy Datta and second because of its cover, so pretty, loved the cover.

Yes, once again, he came up with a heart-warming love story though this time with a sci-fi twist. Beginning a few years ago, from the birth of our hero and heroine, the book kick starts with an engaging and gripping story. This will take you into a whole new world of technology, where soul transfer is possible.

Although, it is a fictional story, though through the pages of the book one can travel in the world where this concept is real. I thoroughly enjoyed the first half of the book; it beautifully covers the relation of Anvesha and Druvan with each other, with their friends and family. What I liked the most is that the author has given proper character development to every person in the story.

Alongside, a parallel plot that goes simultaneously in the book is related to a science experiment; a reincarnation program. As the story progresses, we see how the ongoing reincarnation program and the life of Anvesha and Druvan get linked up. The book in its second half focuses mainly on the process of aatma/soul transfer, political drama, riots, mass murders etc.

• At this phase, it feels like the plot of soulmates was lost and overshadowed.
• I understand that the author wanted to provide a base to the science experiment but I guess it became a little extra, repetitive, and over the top.
• It could have been cut short.
• However, I am glad that towards the end, the whole thing went back to our soulmates in the actual sense.

“Ek Jism Do Jaan” Science is Future; Future is Science. 23 reviews 13 followers March 26, 2021 Touch of Eternity – Durjoy Dutta What if forever actually turns out to be forever!! How often have you read Dystopian books by Indian authors? I have read very few and I am not sure whether my understanding is correct for this book to put it under the “Dystopian radar” or not but this is definitely something that is new and unique that I have read from an Indian author.

• This book is not cliche Durjoy, in fact I would say its altogether a different world that he has created this time.
• Something whose existence is debatable since forever and has amazingly woven it with Anvesha ‘s and Druvan’s Love Story.
• Trying not to give much spoilers – It’s a story of 2 soulmates out there in a world where souls are traded.

yess.!! Intrigued much. read this out to know more. Things I Liked – I thoroughly enjoyed the story line, the characters, in fact some indirect implications were hilarious(specially the one with media coverage😂) I couldn’t imagine the efforts gone behind this imagination.

• The details were so technical, I had to sometimes read twice to understand and that shows how intricate each and everything has been though about and penned.
• Though, there were some places where I felt the plot being a little dragged or sometimes it felt liked completely absurd.
• Like how is this even possible.

But I guess, that’s what creating a parallel world image does to you, where you know this is impossible or just not right but then again you go ahead to see what if it actually happens, how will it unfold then?. I would definitely give Durjoy a thumbs up for sharing something so distinct with his readers this time.! 17 reviews February 13, 2022 My worst read till date.anybody who has come here for the reviews.please please dont read this book.its the wost nightmare.there were 100s of moments when i thought that i am done with the book.but i didnt want to leave it midway.dont go by its beautiful cover.its a trap.never reading a Durjoy Datta again!!!!! I am just done with 3 of his works.this book being one of them!!!!!! 25 reviews August 14, 2023 Honesty, I was disappointed. I mean I read this book after reading ” Ofcourse I love you till I find someone better” and this book wasn’t what I expected. Ek jaan do rooh, I mean what is this. Since the starting of the book it was soulmate thing, it was nice then in the middle it was some reincarnation thing and at last their soul were in the guy body altogether. 53 reviews 1 follower April 25, 2023 a book which tries to be more than what it wants to be, or more than what the plot demands. starts of with quite a decent plot of two families who live in the same apartment and are so close that their lives are intertwined, but goes on to be a predictable tale of one family assembling wealth and the other family remaining the typical middle class household, thus leading to a ridge between them.

Durjoy attempts to take some political potshots or parallels after the families seperate, with the current right wing and their education policies and propaganda- driven policies being the target, but the arrow misses the centre circle by large and the targets become too obvious, weak and predictable.

the entire crux of the central plot- anvesha and druvan’s love story- is, however, very amateurish. it relies on bizarre coincidences and hilarious superficial stuff, and the emotional part of it is quite cringey. the fact that they are born exactly at the same moment to two intertwined families is- a bit undigestable.

1. In order to portray the so-called intensity, durjoy relies heavily on sex and sexuality which is perhaps more than what the plot demands.
2. The fact that parents get to know of their sexual exploits, which leads to their seperation, which is followed by anvesha’s life threatening disease, is very predictable in nature and monotonously the same as the plot of several daily made stories.

now, the most interesting part. apparently, a firm and it’s scientists build a lab and work out a formula to “transfer the soul of two people into one body and keep both living”. in order to get selected for this program, there is a popular vote and anvesha and druvan come up to the top ranks.

This is done by winning over public sympathy by “arranging a fake marriage” filled with emotional melodrama. druvan’s body, at the end, houses both their souls as a result of a soul transplant. I mean, this entire plot could be laughed off, but let’s just consider the hyperimaginative effort put in, and realize that a plot needn’t be this critical at the basics- it just kills off the credibility of the entire plot, which is in any case supplimented by heavy, agonizing dramatization.

overall, the book may seem attractive for a few selective parts and quotes, but the plot, and the execution of the plot rests on a mere vacuum of quotational attractiveness. This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers. 71 reviews 2 followers January 25, 2023 Have you ever witnessed authors that try to write in different genres? I am curious. I read A Touch Of Eternity, written by Durjoy Datta, lately. I love to try different genres, and this book has been on my shelf since September 2021.

• The book begins with two lovers- Dhruvan and Anvesha, wanting to write their story.
• Dhruvan and Anvesha were born on the same day to the two neighbours.
• These babies would cry and not sleep when separated, i.e., they seemed contended and slept when they lay next to each other.
• Dhruvan’s dad believes them to be soulmates.

The story begins at a slow pace to build up the plot. Mr Datta takes sufficient time to unfold the mysteries, but he does discuss three chapters in between to hint to the readers about its concept. Reading a science-fiction-themed storyline written by a romance writer could be puzzling, and that confirms why a few readers didn’t go forward with the book.

There were instances when I felt he was trying to rush through to bring in the actual plot because there were a few inconsistent sentences. Anyway, the pace changed as we entered the principle scenario. It seemed like a thriller imparting dystopian vibes. It amazed me that he was going to try something different this time, and I wish that had been the case.

I wish there was a way to share the details without giving spoilers to his fans, but all I can offer is that I found the ending to be the obvious solution for him as he tried to keep his known-for genre intact. One can categorize the story as a Romantic Science Fiction Thriller.

1. The title has been justified on both metaphorical and literary grounds.
2. Also, the titles of the chapters were appropriate.
3. I suggest the concerned people at Sony Liv or Zee 5 ask the author to alter the ending and direct a web series with this plot because the thriller part was enthralling.
4. Anyway, I admit that I was impressed with his imagination and the intricate details of the few violent scenes in the book, which include a few deaths.

Nevertheless, Mr Datta must try his hand at the science fiction genre with not so cringe ending. May 7, 2021 Throughout my life, I have heard and read stories about reincarnation and soulmates. In fact the first YA book that I read was soulmate-based. To me, love is an emotion that staggers you, tears down all your defences, terrifies you. But is this really true? Is this really my own perception? Or is this is a perception that I’ve formulated over the years based on the type of content I consume – or the type of content that I’ve been exposed to via my gadgets.

1. ‘A Touch of Eternity’ by Durjoy Dutta follows the age-old trope of two soulmates, Druvan and Anvesha, born on the same day, at the same time.
2. Though, that is not all.
3. It further expands into scientific fiction.
4. Damodar Acharya, a multimillionaire businessman tries to carry out his dream, and pulls out all stops to do so.

A dream that a lot of us think about in real life, but it feels like a far-fetched and laughable concept. The dream of reincarnation and soul transfer. However, Damodar is able to do so, and thus this marks the onset of a major scientific breakthrough.

Though the plot of the book is interesting, the story didn’t sit very well with me. The love between Druvan and Anvesha really, really appealed to the diehard romantic within me. But the fact that the fate of their love was guided by a man’s desire to control the cycle of birth and death, was something that I didn’t like very much.

The second half of the book was a bit fast-paced for my liking and failed to capture the essence of the story for me. The nitty-gritties of the scientific process of reincarnation failed to interest me much, though it might interest someone who is into the workings of the human brain and the complete science behind it. 7 reviews 1 follower March 24, 2021 Durjoy Datta is well known for giving us love stories. He emphasizes a particular stage of that love life, which is complicated but very relatable. He slowly evolved into writing love stories that are out of the ordinary.

This did not kill the “relatable” side of the stories as we still saw ourselves in the character’s shoes relating to their emotions. This is the first best thing about his writing – his characters are the centerpiece. For the last three books I have read from his collection, the plot twist is something I never expected from him.

From being an author that gave a “close to home” kind of soft stories he became an author that gave “I did not know that is happening in this world” kind of stories. Particularly talking about his style in A Touch Of Eternity, I feel he picked different elements like a love story (how Druvan and Anvesha evolve)-science fiction (reincarnation and man’s control over death)- cult following that led to tragic incidents and connected them well.

This is the second-best thing about the book. The phase of the book is moderate until 2/3. Post that everything goes is a fast phase and keeps us very engaged. One thing that I did not like about the book was the ending – predictable, was wrapped too quickly. But it does answer the biggest question the author asks.

“Eternity was never forever. We know we will die one day. So when you say, I will be with you forever it’s 20 or 30 or 55 years. But, what if eternity with a person is truly an eternity. Will you still say I will be with your forever to them?” 4 for writing style 4.5 for characters 4.5 for concept and story Overall 4 25 reviews 1 follower June 22, 2022 I always believe that a book which either brings a smile or a tear as you read the last word is always worth all the time you gave to read it. This was such a book for me. I had smile on my face as I finished it. This is the story of Dhruvan-Anvesha and Anvesha-Dhruvan.

Why I said it in this manner? You can know it only when you reach the last page of the book. Two people, a girl and a boy; born on same day and same time; in the same neighbourhood. Their lives so much interlinked that they would even fall sick with the same disease at the same time. They were bound to fall in love and they did too; until some tragic news got delivered to them.

The only rescue option was the ‘scientific experiment of reincarnation’. What was it? Well, you got to read the book to find that out. A book that defines ‘togetherness’ in different way altogether. It’s totally a work of fiction and takes your creative mind to a different level.

As I was in the initial pages, I thought it was just another ‘too good to be true’ love story. Even as the main theme started; there were times I got bit distracted and dropped the book for few days and read something else. But the last pages really picked my interest and the ending wasn’t disappointing at all.

It was worth a read. This book gives you some different kind of food for thought. A totally different idea. At least for me. I had not expected this climax. A good read ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ 151 reviews 5 followers June 26, 2021 🌸 A Touch of Eternity by Durjoy Datta, 🌸 Genre – Fiction, 🌸 Just yesterday I had complete this book and after reading my first book of writer Durjoy Datta, I am become a big fan of him ☺️❤️. 🌸 A Touch of Eternity is mainly a love story of Druvan and Anvesha.

They will go through, not only they the whole world will go through a major scientific breakthrough that could make reincarnation and soul transplant possible. So born on same day same time, in neighborhood they know that they are soulmates, But thier parents didn’t believe this thing. So they have to participate in this project and proved that they are soulmates.

The Acharya’s are creating this whole project and they just want to control the love and life by the help of science. 🌸 The struggles of this two lovers to participate in reincarnation and proved that they are soulmates and will a man’s dream to control love and life come true? and when the times comes, can one stay true to their soulmates?,this is the main plot of the story,

🌸 This will take you into a whole world of technology where soul transplant and reincarnation is possible. Although it’s a fictional story so one can travel through the world where this concept is real, 🌸 So, if you are looking for something like love story, science fiction, technology, entertaining, adventures.you should try this book.

Love, Aditi ❤️ 59 reviews September 14, 2021 Durjoy Datta’s 2020 best-seller deals with eternal, true and pure live. Druvan and Anvesha sem defined for each other right at birth. They were born on the same day, at the same time to two families who live as neighbours.

All through the course of their life, they seem almost convinced that they are soulmates. Concomitantly, in the nation, a new scientific invention is causing a breakthrough in the very notion of rebirth and reincarnation. Will the two soul mates proves their love to the world? Datta seems to be at his creative best in this novel as he attempts to merge fiction and reality.

But altering the names of TV Channels like Aaj Tak and a few celebrities’ names, he almost manages to convince the reader that this story is true. There’s a lot of emphasis on the fact that live requires compatibility and trust for it to last. This is seen in the experiments dealing with reincarnation and soul transference.

The use of the vernacular languages adds a little more flavoring to the story. The book is well paced with some very good narration. However, as I reached the climax of the story, it was a bit confusing as there seem to be a gap left out for the reader to fill. Nevertheless, the book continues to engage the reader as suspense looms at the end of each chapter.

Book Rating: 4.3/5 6 reviews October 4, 2022 𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙞𝙛 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙨𝙖𝙮 ‘𝙞𝙩 𝙞𝙨 𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧.’ 𝙞𝙩 𝙖𝙘𝙩𝙪𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙞𝙨? – 𝘿𝙪𝙧𝙟𝙤𝙮 𝘿𝙪𝙩𝙩𝙖 Book: A Touch of Eternity Author: @durjoydatta My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ I don’t regret even a little, giving it a 5/5, because this book deserves it.

From the best-selling author, this is one of the best romantic books I’ve ever read. The book was brilliantly executed and I kept on thinking ‘how in the world did this guy imagine this many things?!’ The scientific breakthroughs were mind-boggling. Durjoy has written about souls and incarnation and whatnot so perfectly, when I had to smack my head twice, just to write a simple restaurant scene.

😅 And I love Dhruvan more than Anvesha, for his wittiness. Damn that guy is so cute and handsome🥺❤️. And I couldn’t help but coo when Dhruvan asked Anvesha whether she has a backup plan and Anvesha told him, 𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙗𝙖𝙘𝙠𝙪𝙥 𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙣.❤️ I laughed out so loud, seeing the names of the selected people 🤣 ‘𝐈 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮, 𝐃𝐡𝐫𝐮𝐯𝐚𝐧-𝐀𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐬𝐡𝐚.

𝐈 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮, 𝐀𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐝𝐡𝐚-𝐃𝐡𝐫𝐮𝐯𝐚𝐧.’ Me being restless, skipped to the last page and saw this, but didn’t understand what happened till I read in order. 😅You’re just awesome Durjoy sir! And when the story ended, I couldn’t help, but shed some happy tears.❤️ You’re a great inspiration for all the budding writers like me.

🤗 7 reviews January 24, 2022 Druvan and Anvesha, born on the same day and time grow up together. This has a political view too and had me thinking what would happen if it all came true sometimes. And all I kept wondering was what would happen if Mr D stood in the elections.

A typical Indian political plot, with all the over-ruling and stuff. All seems to be going good but suddenly there is a change of things, the death of a bigshot and Druvan and Anvesha falling ill “The soulmate sickness”. The Acharya Parivar hand-in-hand with the government takes over the nation and life too.

Things seem to take a very big turn, life and death become choosable. Will these two live and what will happen to the government and the Parivar? A whole new face of Mr D. After all the lovey-dovey romances of his, this book is so much different. It brings out the darkness in Mr D’s mind (just kidding). 11 reviews 1 follower March 11, 2021 A unique love story of Druvan and Anvesha, born on the same day and at the same time, same hospital to a set of parents who are best friends. Druvan and Anvesha know they are soulmates in every sense. Their parents, however, refuse to accept their togetherness at first and try to tear them apart.

But Druvan and Anvesha hold around each other against all odds. This book mostly revolved around the possibility of reincarnation and immortality deciphered by the development of science and technology. It’s a mix of religion, myth, science, history. From the start to the end of this book, it captivated the reader, going through the exact emotion of the characters from curiosity to love and so on.

I might say I like this book more than any of the author’s other work. But one thing I felt was, the ending doesn’t seem like one though. It just gives me a high hope, there might be a sequel to it 😇. May 31, 2021 One 🌟 for the perfect title and book cover. Second 🌟 for the author’s brilliant power of imagination. Third 🌟 for the perfect scientific love story of Druvan and Anvesha. Fourth 🌟 that all books deserve to give knowledge to the readers.

I apologise to take away the last star as I felt a bit boring in the middle when there were many scientific theories which were not so interesting to read. Last but not the least, I would like to appreciate the author’s effort to discover this beautiful story out of science and putting it up in such perfect way.

Being an author myself, I understand how difficult it is to think of such story and succeeding in it. Congratulations, durjoy sir for this massive success. Wishing you many more of it.

What happens in the book eternal?

Eternal Lisa Scottoline is the bestselling author of numerous legal and psychological thrillers. However, that description does nothing to convey to you the simple beauty and heartfelt emotional journey that readers will take with her first historical novel.

ETERNAL is set during the ventennio, the 20 years of Mussolini’s reign of terror, and her characters battle a world in freefall from anything resembling their shared childhoods. This is the story of the struggle of anti-Fascists in World War II Rome. The book’s protagonists grew up together: Elisabetta, an aspiring author and local beauty; Marco, the loud, athletic champion biker in a family of cyclists; and Sandro, a brainy mathematician whose Jewish heritage is upheld proudly by his professional educated parents.

As the three become closer, a love triangle is created that will affect their lives forever. The Rome of their childhood is turning into something that they are terrified to witness. “Scottoline should be congratulated for taking on such a despicable yet compelling topic and turning it into a searing, thoughtful and emotional story that will thrill her dedicated readers and newcomers alike.” Interesting fact: Scottoline has researched the Italian Holocaust for years, beginning as an undergraduate at the University of Pennsylvania.

1. There she took a year-long seminar, “The Literature of the Holocaust,” taught by the late great Philip Roth.
2. Primo Levi, an Italian Jewish chemist who was deported to Auschwitz during WWII but survived to write the memoir SURVIVAL IN AUSCHWITZ, was a primary source for that class.
3. ETERNAL is the culmination of all that interest and effort to learn the truth about how it all went down.

Autumn 1937. Mussolini’s rise begins, and Fascism starts to separate Marco, a party member, and Sandro, the victim of their legal attacks. Friendships and romantic relationships are challenged by the chaos of the day and the threat to a life of traditional community-based living.

The discriminatory race laws that the Fascists put into place are a very real and well-documented storyline that helps place the pre-WWII Italian landscape in the most threatening context. Scottoline’s scholarship has inflected every vowel and consonant in this gripping, thrilling tale of lives on the brink of countless changes.

The characters are so beautifully fleshed out that you feel as if you are reading someone’s family memoir. And Scottoline herself admits that some of these individuals are based on her own family members. The love affair and the biased world views are both multidimensional and balanced together in a magnificent achievement of literary construction.

Perhaps Scottoline’s hard-earned research helped her see a more complete picture of the two worlds, one exterior and one interior, but both are damaging and challenging. Elisabetta, Marco and Sandro share a stage that is swift and ever-changing, which makes ETERNAL a truly outstanding work of historical fiction.

As Scottoline herself has said about the book, after her Roth experience, “Rome struck me as the best location for the novel, since its so-called Ghetto is home to the oldest continuously-existing Jewish Community in all of Western Civilization. I learned about a horrific event that took place in the Ghetto in October 1943.

It was part of the Nazis’ plan to eradicate Rome’s Jews, but it wasn’t well-known outside the scholarship, and it needed to be.” Scottoline should be congratulated for taking on such a despicable yet compelling topic and turning it into a searing, thoughtful and emotional story that will thrill her dedicated readers and newcomers alike.

As Americans go through huge growing pains (hopefully leading to something positive) in terms of their own racist pasts, ETERNAL offers us hope. Somehow love really can save the day – romantic love, brotherhood, spiritual love, love for a good nation and the democratic process.

Who is the queen of Kor

Kor was a sophisticated ancient civilization located in modern day Uganda. It was ruled by the once immortal queen Ayesha.

What does he who wishes to be obeyed must know how to command mean?

He who wishes to be obeyed must know how to command. – Niccolò Machiavelli – General Douglas MacArthur (and staff), asking the Marines to wade ashore “pretty please” Not really. What is leadership mean to you? What does that mean? This one got a chuckle out of me, as I have been on both sides of this quote. If you are expecting someone to be a leader, and they don’t know how to lead, it’s really hard to follow them.

Not because of any lack of respect (although that comes soon enough, and complicates things), but because there isn’t any lead to follow. Similarly, if you are in a position of leadership, but don’t know how to lead, your people will have trouble following your (lack of) lead. Discipline, camaraderie, and common experiences help, but you still need to know how to give a command.

You know General MacArthur didn’t ask the Marines to “storm the beach, pretty please,” right? Why is leadership important? Leadership isn’t just barking orders. I imagine you’ve worked for a jerk like that at some point in your life, and that’s not leadership, is it? I don’t think so.

Neither is asking people if they’d please do something for you (you’ve probably known one of those as well). Like most things in life, there is a middle path between these extremes. For every leader, and for every group of people being led, that path will be different. Same goes for levels discipline, team building and all the other things that go on in an effort to build a team and establish a leader.

Leadership can break down when there is a lack of trust between the leader and the people. It can also break down when erratic, contradictory, or nonsensical commands are given. A lack of clear goal or path to it can also degrade the ability to lead. Where can I apply this in my life? This is my problem with dancing.

In order to lead, you need to know what you’re doing, and how to communicate that information to your partner. My wife is an excellent dancer, however I have not cultivated that talent. Something about being a near-terminal introvert or something. The lessons lead to mostly frustration for both of us. She was used to being around people who were competent dancers and grew frustrated at my lack of understanding of even the basic moves.

I grew frustrated when my attempts to lead didn’t work out well, as she was expecting a clearer signal and a little more lead time. I didn’t know how to command, so she couldn’t obey. So much fun – not! Where in your life are you a leader, even if it’s not the top-of-the-chain person? Even if it’s just you and your dog, hopefully you’re the leader at home, right? Even if you household is busier than that, most people in a family have some aspect where they take the lead, even if it’s loading the dishwasher or mowing the grass, right? When a kid is mowing the lawn, they are in charge, right? It’s a safety issue.

1. How they interact with the family will impact how they say it, but you can’t have someone laying on a blanket on the grass getting a tan if you’re going to cut the grass, it’s just too dangerous.
2. How do you assert your leadership? Do you yell at them, do you use logic, or do you inform them of what they must do and go to a parent for back-up if they refuse? There are no right or wrong answers, but it’s something a leader should think about and be prepared for, right? What would you do? If you have found that you are a leader in some aspect of your life (as most of us will have), how do you give commands? Again, there are no right or wrong answers, and the answer will depend on your style as well as your relationship with those you lead.

But it is something I believe is worthy of some thought. If you think you need some help with leadership, there are plenty of books in the library and online that can be of some use. There are books to help the timid, there are books on styles (the leadership secrets of ), and source matter books (for those who are unsure on the subject matter in which they find themselves leading).

There are also social organizations which can help you with leadership qualities, and my favorite, mentors. Find someone who’s already a leader in the field and ask for help. Some can be jerks, but most remember being in your place, and are willing to help a little. It will still be up to you to learn and do the work.

Leadership. It’s not easy, and it’s not for everyone. But if it’s for you, you’re going to need to learn a lot. Get busy! From: Twitter, @Roj44 confirmed at : http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/n/niccolomac144982.html Photo by Marion Doss

Who played Hilda in Rumpole of the Bailey

Rumpole’s wife leaves lasting impression Marion Mathie was best known as Mrs Hilda Rumpole, aka ”She Who Must Be Obeyed”, Leo McKern’s overbearing wife in John Mortimer’s popular courtroom series Rumpole of the Bailey, She was not the first actress to play the role – taking the part in 1987 after Peggy Thorpe-Bates retired due to ill health. A life sentence Marion Mathie and on-screen barrister husband Leo McKern in Rumpole of the Bailey. Marion Mathie was born on February 6, 1925 in Kingston upon Thames, Surrey, to parents of Scottish ancestry. After leaving school she trained as an actress, appearing in 1947 with John Le Mesurier in the musical comedy The Dubarry at the first Edinburgh International Festival.

1. After several years as a member of Glasgow’s Citizens Theatre Company in the early 1950s, she worked with several repertory companies in England.
2. On television she appeared in the late 1950s and early 1960s in several roles in the police drama series Dixon of Dock Green and made many guest appearances in such dramas as Dr Finlay’s Casebook, The Saint and Softly, Softly,

In The Six Wives of Henry VIII (1970, starring Keith Michell), she was Lady Exeter. On the big screen, Mathie was the curtain-twitching neighbour in Stanley Kubrick’s Lolita (1962) and was one of Christopher Lee’s victims in Dracula Has Risen from the Grave (1968).

In her later career, she was the school matron in the sitcom AJ Wentworth BA (1982) and played Susan Wyse MBE in the period comedy Mapp and Lucia (1986). In 1963, she married John Humphry, an actor with the Old Vic company. He and a son, Christopher, predeceased her. She is survived by their daughter, Martine.

Telegraph, London : Rumpole’s wife leaves lasting impression