Sir John Mortimer on Private Passions

Listening to on old recording (1995) of Sir John Mortimer on Private Passions. I was a bit stunned that this incredibly successful barrister should emphasise that the key for a defence lawyer is to get the jury to laugh.

Sir John Mortimer, barrister, playwright and creator of 'Rumpole of the Bailey', died last year. He was one of the very early guests on 'Private Passions', and this edition, recorded at his Buckinghamshire home and first broadcast in 1995, offers another chance to hear him talking about one of his greatest passions, music.

The more I think about the law and politics, the more dubious they seem. There is so much scope for powerful people to abuse charm, good looks, fashion, humour to sway political debate and the legal system.

As I get older, I fear that I am becoming more cynical, we appear to becoming increasingly short-sighted and dummying down?

However on the flip side, I think great progress has been made (especially in 60s and 70s) on civil liberties and the UK schools, prisons and policing becoming more humane. LGBT rights have made huge progress and we are making good progress in the UK (e.g. in the workplace taunting-gay men is now increasingly unacceptable - it happened all the time only 10 years ago)

Furthermore we are making great technological progress and hopefully we can use this knowledge to live in a more efficient way? However the 21st is going to present huge challenges. I hope our leaders will have the intelligence and integrity and reject the current trend for winning arguments in the short-term by skewing statistics, mockery, smart suits... yes this has always been there but I fear we are dummying-down and loosing out humanity.

humane |(h)yoōˈmān|

adjective

1 having or showing compassion or benevolence : regulations ensuring the humane treatment of animals.

• inflicting the minimum of pain : humane methods of killing.

2 formal (of a branch of learning) intended to have a civilizing or refining effect on people : the center emphasizes economics as a humane discipline.

DERIVATIVES

humanely |(h)juˈmeɪnli| adverb

humaneness |(h)juˈmeɪn(n)1s| noun

ORIGIN late Middle English : the earlier form of human , restricted to the senses above in the 18th cent.

Behind Van Gogh - letters and sketchs

The Van Gogh exhibition at the Royal Academy is fantastic. The focus on his sketches and drawings, gave me a feeling for the private life of this brilliant talent. Even as a small boy when I was generally bored by my parents terminally long trips around various Europe's finest art galleries and museums, I loved the Van Gogh's and could loose myself in these paintings for long periods. I didn't realise who hard he worked as an artists - years of hard study and solid technical training, like Picasso he has done some beautiful line drawings. His style and unique technical skills clearly developed over many years.

Anyway the highlight of this exhibit was his sketches and his letters, which gives masses of colourful background into his life, what he read, what he thought, his passions...

It is also just nice to see the rough sketches behind some of his most famous painting.

Mon cher Theo,

Merci de ta lettre et du billet de 50 fr. qu’elle contenait. Merci de m’avoir encore écrit sur le tableau de ces artistes Hollandais.1

J’ai fait mettre le gaz dans l’atelier et dans la cuisine, ce qui me coûte 25 francs d’installation.2 Si Gauguin et moi travaillons une quinzaine tous les soirs ne les regagnerons nous pas? Seulement comme d’ailleurs G. peut maintenant venir de jour en jour j’aurai absolument absolument encore besoin de 50 francs au moins...

http://vangoghletters.org/vg/letters/let709/letter.html