more old childhood favorites. Leo McKern as Horace Rumpole, "Old Bailey hack"! I've read a pile of the John Mortimer books too; maybe I knew in my heart that one day I'd have troubles with the law. some of the Rumpole stories get very bitter indeed; he's an honest public defender shoved to the bottom of the pecking order because all the social status accrues to prosecutors (who become QCs and judges) and he doesn't always win. but this one, "The Age of Miracles", is one of the lighter-hearted ones. Rumpole gets to embarrass the God-bothering Christian hypocrite "Soapy" Sam Ballard, here seen bent at his desk and praying as loudly as possible.
suddenly I am reminded of C. S. Lewis. it's usual to imagine that obnoxious Bible-thumping is mostly specific to U.S. public life, but it's well to recall that there's no shortage of Christian hardliners in Great Britain, too. Sam Ballard may be no evangelical but he's just as tediously sanctimonious about trivial things—drink, vulgar language, punctuality, sexual decorum—as any TV preacher from the American hinterland.
I mean...where do you think they copied it from? (makes a sour face)
~Chara
