Customer Reviews
"From this day forth, thou shalt not be able to put on thine own socks." - By: Mary Whipple, 10 Apr 2008 
Using this imagined pronouncement from God as an introduction to his third autobiography, author John Mortimer, barrister, playwright, novelist, & creator of the Rumpole series, muses on aging & the fact that time passes far more swiftly in old age than in youth. He expects the rest of his life to pass as quickly as "the summer of a dormouse." More a diary in book form than an autobiography with a controlling theme, Mortimer comments on recent events in his life, jumping from topic to topic, then backing up & revisiting those topics when events change or he learns something new.
The beginning of the book emphasizes his relationship with Franco Zeffirelli, for whom he wrote the screenplay for "Tea with Mussolini." He was fascinated by the casting & filming of that production, & his comments about Judy Dench, Joan Plowright, & Maggie Smith, alll Great Ladies of British theatre, who shared billing in the film with the American Cher, add life & spice to the behind the scenes stories, especiallly when they appear nude at Zeffirelli's pool. He jumps quickly from this to his problems with his own broken leg, followed by leg ulcers that will not heal, & his experiments with a "black box," & electrical treatments which have a healing effect.
Soon he is onto the subject of running a campaign to rebuild the Royal Court Theatre, the problems he has had with government financing, with foundations, & with donors. His liberal political goals & his anti-establishment screeds add contemporary British political information to the autobiographical mix, & his reminiscences about growing up with his father, a blind barrister who was carefully tended to by Mortimer's solicitous mother, put his own pre-occupations with the family house & garden into perspective.
Unfortunately, his discussion about his father's blindness, the surgeries his father underwent, his homage to his patient & long-suffering mother, & his own problems & surgeries for detached retinas (apparently inherited) are virtuallly lifted from his previous autobiography, Murderers & Other Friends. His story about visiting Sir John Gielgud with his wife & baby daughter Emily in her "pink carry-cot" is also virtuallly identical to his previous reminiscence from "Murderers & Other Friends." Though he discussed at length his relationship with playwright Harold Pinter in that book, he sees Pinter in this book & comments as if he's never seen him before! Fascinating for anyone who loves Rumpole & the Mortimer writings, this third "autobiography" is more like a Mortimer reminiscence written for Mortimer himself than it is for a wider audience of Mortimer fans. n Mary Whipple
Five Stars All Round - A Great Pleasure! - By: , 01 Apr 2003 
I thought this account of a year in the elderly John Mortimer's life fascinating & gripping. Consider getting the audio tape as well as or instead of the book to hear the author's own nuances & tone - it adds to the humour. I especiallly liked the Mortimer's description of being on the board to decide what to put on the empty plinth in Trafalgar Square - Mortimer wanted Dickens, but Dickens had specified in his will that no statues be erected of himself! So they decide, by committee decision of course, to implement that rotating selection of modern art, including that white stone modern sculpture of Jesus that drew the anger of one committee member because that statue was white, & "everyone knew Jesus was black, from Abyssinia." Mortimer throughout is genial & compromising, & so we get, as we must, what get in Trafalgar Square & elsewhere. The description of working with Franco Zeffereli on "Tea With Mussolini" is also grand, as his description of being ingeniously hit up for a handount in Manhattan. The Royal Court Theatre rebuilding is another decision-by-committee experience that Mortimer handles well, & his comments about his family, & life as a boy in a village (he notes that in old age he has seen the return of having groceries delivered to our homes - something his family enjoyed in the 1930's = "Progress," he says) are wistful, funny & sad.
Again, consider getting the audio tape for the full effect.
Readable, but disappointing - By: Big D, 24 Aug 2001 
Admittedly, I have never read John Mortimer before. And this may not have been a good choice to start with. It certainly is well written & easy to read. However, it does rather read like a collection of columns from the Sunday Rumpole written by an aging barrister. Certainly some funny stories (though I didn't laugh out loud), & Mr Mortimer knows some interesting people. If only his stories about them were more interesting. If you would choose your Sunday newspaper on the basis that John Mortimer writes a column in it, you'll love this. If not, I doubt that this will convert you.
Excellent - Funny, Heartening, Moving and Hard-to-put-down - By: Steve P Taylor, 29 Nov 2000 
John Mortimer returns to the literary world with this excellent account of 'growing old disgracefully'. He may have moved on from his Rumpole days, but his own brand of ascerbic wit remains - thoroughly recommended.
