Rumpole is Falstaff on the right side of the law. He is rumbustious, shrewdly distrustful of authority and filled with substantial appetites others find gross. Leo McKern's television incarnation was unforgettable; his face had been hardened by confronting the world's absurdities and mangled by the rigorous pursuit of his own pleasure. One was reminded of Evelyn Waugh: 'The heavy port drinker must be prepared to make some sacrifice of personal beauty and agility.' One must substitute claret for port, of course, the Ch‰teau Fleet Street which the man from the Bailey has always been so fond of consuming. It is surely impossible to read the stories these days without seeing and hearing McKern (now sadly departed), just as it is impossible to read any of Le CarrZ's Smiley books without seeing and hearing Alec Guinness.

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