John Mortimer 1923-2009

He was not a very nice man; but he was a very brilliant one.  Creator of Rumpole; author; playwright; adapter of classics; not to mention one of the greatest lawyers of his generation. The BBC supplies a sampling of his bon mots.  And the Daily Telegraph’s drama...

Little Things Mean A Lot

Noted by Tom Shales in his critique of President Bush’s farewell address: Although noting Bush has five more days in office before Obama is sworn in, CBS News anchor Katie Couric even prematurely deprived Bush of the traditional introduction afforded...

Ricardo Montalban, 1920-2009

Yesterday, a man left us who, for most Americans and many around the world, will always conjure up a host of treasured images – black-clad and dancing sensually with Cyd Charisse; slyly warbling “Baby It’s Cold Outside” with Esther Williams;...

Of Mice, Pumpkins, And Former Presidents

Sometime after the transition in January of 1969, President Richard Nixon asked his predecessor, Lyndon Johnson, how it felt the moment he knew he wasn’t president anymore. LBJ replied: I don’t know whether you’ll understand this now or not, but you certainly will...

Be Seeing You: Patrick McGoohan 1928-2009

Actor Patrick McGoohan died in Los Angeles on Tuesday after a brief illness; he was 80. Beginning in the summer of 1968, the seventeen episodes of The Prisoner —the British spy-science fiction series he helped to create and starred in— were broadcast on...