Rumpole of the Bailey (book series) collection "Rumpole's Last Case" Contains all seven short stories in the 1988 collection "Rumpole and the Age of Miracles"; all six short stories in the 1990 collection "Rumpole à la Carte" and all six short stories in the 1995 collection "Rumpole and the Angel of Death" Contains seven Rumpole stories personally selected as favourites by John Mortimer. Contains a total of fourteen Rumpole stories, The seven stories that were personally selected as favourites by John Mortimer in the 1993 anthology "The Best of Rumpole: A Personal Choice". Plus the following seven stories selected from the short stories published in the
Rumpole of the Bailey interest in nineteenth-century anarchists, especially the Russian Peter Kropotkin from whom the title of the play was drawn. The character's name was later changed to Horace Rumpole when it was discovered that there was a real barrister called Horace Rumbold. The title of the play was briefly changed to "Jolly Old Jean Jacques Rousseau" before settling on the less esoteric "Rumpole of the Bailey". Mortimer was keen on Michael Hordern for the role of Rumpole. When Hordern proved unavailable, the part went to Australian-born actor Leo McKern. Mortimer was initially unenthusiastic about McKern's casting but changed his opinion upon seeing