Many among us will have been saddened by the death on 16 January of John Mortimer; the aging hippies among us no doubt remembering his role in the Oz ‘schoolkids issue’ trial with affection and amusement.
Others will have aspired to his lifestyle: ‘I would have breakfast with a murderer, lunch with a judge and dinner with an actress’.
Following his death, I spent a Sunday evening watching a series of John Mortimer related programmes on television, consisting of the original televised episode of his fictional creation Rumpole of the Bailey, the play A Voyage Round My Father, and recollections of the great man himself from various friends and colleagues.
The hippies may also have been surprised to learn that among the former was Jon Lord, the organist of Deep Purple (a popular music combo of the late 1960s and 70s, m’lud), which itself brought back memories of a concert many years ago, featuring guitarist Ritchie Blackmore’s attempts to beat out a fire in a speaker cabinet using a Fender Stratocaster guitar (happy days).
But moving on, apparently Lord played at Mortimer’s funeral.
Among legal colleagues featured in the programme was one Ann Mallalieu.
That name rings a bell, I thought; ah yes, she of Mallalieu v Drummond fame, where – as a barrister – her claim to the cost of sombre clothing for court use was disallowed by the House of Lords.
As an aside, I see that she was described as ‘an attractive blond barrister’ by the General Commissioners, although they still disallowed her claim.
I seem to recall that part of the reason for her claim that the expense was ‘wholly and exclusively’ for the purposes of her profession was that black clothing was ‘ageing and did not suit her blonde colouring’ and that she would not choose to wear such clothes were it not for the Bar Council ‘Notes for Guidance on Dress in Court’ requiring this.
In fact, I see that the case report from the High Court noted that ‘the taxpayer preferred to wear coloured clothes rather than black ones’.
No doubt Ann – now Baroness – Mallalieu has many anecdotes to tell from her legal career and those interested in hearing these can book her as an after-dinner speaker from the JLA agency.
Naturally, there is a picture of Baroness Mallalieu on the firm’s website.
But what is she wearing?
Black!

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