A quick post before the gainfully employed disappear for the weekend to encourage you to raise a glass for the late John Mortimer who died today aged 85.

I wasn’t a big fan of Rumpole of the Bailey, the character Mortimer created for television, radio and books. A bit too stuffy and 1970s for my taste. But Mortimer was one of those really CLEVER people who made the world a more interesting place. After all, he defended Oz magazine in a famous censorship trial in the year of my birth. Nick Higham and Clive Anderson have just contributed to a lovely tribute on Radio 4′s PM.

And Mortimer achieved everything he did with those amazing gnashers. As someone in my family once observed, just imagine what an apple would look like after he’d bitten into it.

Here’s to eccentricity.