# Wasn't Rumpole a judge once? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 19, 2010, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wasnt-rumpole-a-judge-once/525598 "2010-01-19T19:13:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2010, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wasnt-rumpole-a-judge-once/525598/1 "2010-01-19T19:13:12Z")
> **[Rumpole of the Bailey](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/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, a middle-aged 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 differ slightly between t... ISTR that the belovedly crotchety old barrister was once, briefly, a judge. Not sure if it was in a book, on TV or radio. Anyone else remember? ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2010, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wasnt-rumpole-a-judge-once/525598/2 "2010-01-20T00:30:25Z")
I do not know the Rumpole canon well enough to be sure, but given his generally contemptuous attitude towards judges, his lack of interest in career advancement (he has no interest in “taking silk” or being head of chambers), and that his motivating concern is keeping people out of prison, it seems very unlikely. Rumpole would _hate_ to be a judge, and he is well aware of it. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2010, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wasnt-rumpole-a-judge-once/525598/3 "2010-01-20T00:42:39Z")
I also can’t see Rumpole ever becoming a judge. I can’t even see him being offered a judgeship. Rumpole won’t even prosecute. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2010, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wasnt-rumpole-a-judge-once/525598/4 "2010-01-20T00:46:41Z")
Weren’t there references in the stories in which his colleagues try to get rid of him by making him a judge? I don’t think they ever succeeded, even briefly. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2010, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wasnt-rumpole-a-judge-once/525598/5 "2010-01-20T01:11:39Z")
I don’t recall any references to his being one, but I haven’t read al the Rumpole stories, by a long shot. He’d certainkly hate it, considering the awful things he’s said about judges over the years. But that’s the sort of thing John Mortimer might have found irresistable. Mortimer wrote stories about an MP, Titmuss. And Leo McKern (who played Rumpole on PBS/BBC adaptations, and read Rumpole stories for several audiobook firms) played Thomas Cromwell, who (among other things) prosecuted the case against Sir Thomas More. Perhaps you were thinking of one of those. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2010, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wasnt-rumpole-a-judge-once/525598/6 "2010-01-20T01:37:57Z")
I know he was a prosecutor just once (“Rumpole for the Prosecution”) and it sticks in my mind that he briefly was a judge, much to Hilda’s delight. Maybe I’m wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2010, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wasnt-rumpole-a-judge-once/525598/7 "2010-01-20T02:33:50Z")
You may be thinking of the episode in “Rumpole and the Reign of Terror” where some Ministry type suggests arranging a circuit judgeship for Rumpole (evidently as a little quid pro quo for backing off a potentially inconvenient case), and Rumpole briefly toys with the idea. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2010, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wasnt-rumpole-a-judge-once/525598/8 "2010-01-20T04:39:29Z")
Hilda always wanted Rumpole to be a Judge and she tried to arrange it once, but the politicians are dead set against appointing a life long defense lawyer as a judge (because they are perceived as not tough on crime but tough on lazy prosecutors). Rumpole is aware that it is very unlikely he will ever be appointed judge or named Queen’s Council for those reasons. I do seem to recall he toyed with the idea briefly. But I agree that Rumpole knew himself well enough to know he would hate being a judge and hate himself as one. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2010, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wasnt-rumpole-a-judge-once/525598/9 "2010-01-20T07:20:56Z")
Not familiar with Rumpole as such, but he could have been a recorder, a part time judge. Many Barristers are. You have to be seven years call. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2010, 9:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wasnt-rumpole-a-judge-once/525598/10 "2010-01-20T09:22:35Z")
Hilda once applied to the Lord Chancellor to appoint Rumpole as Queen’s Counsel, without Rumpole knowing it. The Lord Chancellor called him in and gently explained that some barristers operate best as common barristers, in the trenches of the magistrates’ courts, rather than as flashy Q.C.s. ---
**Author:** ![PrettyVacant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/49beb7/32.png) [@PrettyVacant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PrettyVacant)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2010, 9:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wasnt-rumpole-a-judge-once/525598/11 "2010-01-20T09:27:41Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > Not familiar with Rumpole as such, but he could have been a recorder, a part time judge. Many Barristers are. > > You have to be seven years call. Indeed. You can be both at the same time.