Rumpole of the Bailey Rumpole of the Bailey Rumpole of the Bailey is a British television series created and written by the British writer and barrister John Mortimer. It starred Leo McKern as Horace Rumpole, an elderly London barrister who defended a broad variety of clients, often underdogs. The TV series led to the stories being presented in other media including books and radio. The "Bailey" of the title is a reference to the Central Criminal Court, the "Old Bailey". While certain biographical details are slightly different in the original television series and the subsequent book series, Horace Rumpole has a number of definite
Rumpole of the Bailey Rumpole says he is 64 years old, suggesting a birthdate of 1910 (although Leo McKern, the actor who played Rumpole, was born in 1920). Rumpole's "Oxford Book of English Verse" is inscribed "Horace Rumpole, Little Wicks School 1923. Cursed be he who steals this book," (Series 4 – 1987); in "Rumpole and the Fascist Beast" it is mentioned that he studied at Birkenshaw School, as he calls it 'a wind-blasted penal colony on the Norfolk coast'; he bought his barrister's wig in 1932; first appeared in court in 1937; first met Hilda on 14 August 1938; served in the RAF