Excellent bio on England’s national treasure was beaten to the punch by Graham Lord, who dug lots of the dirt – Mortimer’s countless love affairs and taste for kinky sex, his script for Brideshead Revisited was basically discarded, he didn’t stick up for the producer of the original Rumpole when she was let go, his selfishness, and – the big one – his illegitimate son to Wendy Craig. Indeed, Lord casts a shadow over this – Groves refers to the revelations of his book as a big moment in the lives of the Mortimers, especially Penny.
Although this is authorised, and Groves is a lot more affectionate towards Mortimer than Lord, she doesn’t spare him criticism – it’s clear Mortimer wants to be loved, is loveable, but also exasperating and selfish. You can’t have his output and not be selfish to be honest. She has the benefit of Mortimer’s co operation, and that of his family – they don’t hesitate getting stuck in to him. She talks about Mortimer’s writings in less detail than Lord (especially his early novels) – probably because Lord had to refer to them to flesh out the picture of the man, whereas Groves had access to Penelope Mortimer’s diary and interviews with Penny Mortimer, etc. She comes up with a great score too in revealing that Mortimer was sent down from Oxford for a sex scandal… with a man! (He had an intense amorous friendship with another male student).
Both books are a must for Mortimer fans – ok, well, Mortimer fans interested in finding out a little bit more about Mortimer. They complement each other wonderfully.
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