One of the reasons that I still enjoy journalism so much is that occasionally one gets to go to places, do things and meet people you might otherwise not get the chance to do. I'm not talking here about terrorist bombings or disasters but more personal things. Watching a visiting shoal of dolphins from a Greenpeace boat on a bright morning in the middle of the Channel, testing out a new interactive art installation at the Tate or ploughing through an autumnal New Forest in search of mushrooms in the company of a slightly mad, but highly entertaining mushroom expert are just three of the many moments that spring to mind. On those occasions I feel lucky and privileged to be a journalist and it makes me think that, after more than three decades, its still something I want to carry on doing, at least until I get a proper job.
Today was one of those moments when I was asked by the Evening Standard to go to the memorial service for the late great Sir John Mortimer at Southwark Cathedral. Now Sir John was someone I have admired for many years - from when he defended the publishers of Schoolkids Oz at the Old Bailey, through the Rumpole and Leslie Titmus years, right up to his wheelchair bound old age, when, surrounded by a bevy of admiring young women, quaffing his daily glass of champagne, he remained full of opinions, anecdotes, jokes and life generally. He was, as one speaker put it today, a perfect example to us all of how to grow old properly.
I rang him up a couple of times over the years, as did many journalists, to seek his views on matters legal or literary and he was always fun to talk to, always full of good quotes - and knew exactly what he was saying - and always seemed to have plenty of time to talk, despite his busy life entertaining his female friends and lunching. The last time was in the spring of last year when I called to ask his views on plans to modernise the bar. After being instructed by his secretary to call his direct line in two minutes, that familiar, croaky, distinctive voice came on the line, now though terribly wheezy. We spoke for a few minutes and he was as entertaining, friendly and quotable as ever.
Unfortunately, I think he then got me on the redial of his phone and I had about three more calls from him over the next couple of hours when he clearly called me by mistake. I felt terrible about the fact that I had to tell one of the great raconteurs and conversationalists of the age - someone who, it was said today, preferred 'an amusing fib to a boring fact' - that I really didn't have any more questions for him - and was up against a deadline.
So it was with some of these thoughts going through my mind that I sat in Southwark Cathedral today. Not only was it a privilege to be there anyway, alongside many of the great and good from the arts world like Alan Rickman, Sir Peter Hall, Alan Yentob, Richard Eyre and Tom Stoppard, but also to listen to some spellbinding readings - Sir Derek Jacobi, Patricia Hodge and Edward Fox all delivered passages from Sir John's work, while Joss Ackland read from the Bible and Jeremy Irons from Thomas Hardy. There was also some lovely music: Thomas Tallis, one of my favourite arias from the Marriage of Figaro and some classical pieces by Jon Lord, the former member of Deep Purple who became a friend of Mortimer.
I'm like Sir John himself, who, Lord Kinnock said, was a 'devout unbeliever' and an 'Atheist for Jesus,' but cannot deny that the soaring arches of Southwark provided a stunning and moving backdrop to such fine words and music in honour of a great man. As I said, something of a privilege....
Here's the piece I wrote:
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23770782-great-gather-for-a-voyage-round-sir-john-mortimer.do
And now for my daily glass of champagne...
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