First broadcast 11th November 1991.
A radical college professor accused of murder refuses to disclose his alibi while Ballard and Erskine Brown learn domestic lessons about the right to silence.
Leo McKern ... Horace Rumpole
Marion Mathie ... Hilda Rumpole
Patricia Hodge ... Phyllida Erskine-Brown
Julian Curry ... Claude Erskine-Brown
Peter Blythe ... Samuel Ballard Q.C.
Rowena Cooper ... Marguerite Ballard
Abigail McKern ... Liz Probert
Jonathan Coy ... Henry
James Grout ... Mr. Justice Ollie Oliphant
Christopher Benjamin ... Sir Denis Tolson
Andrew Robertson ... Hayden Charles
Maurice Roëves ... Clive Clympton
Sheila Ruskin ... Mercy Charles
Trevor T. Smith ... Martin Wayfield
Pauline Letts ... Mrs. O'Leary
Jemma Churchill ... Audrey Wystan
Anthony Dawes ... Mordaunt Bissett Q.C.
Angus Lennie ... Mr. Beazley
Simon Carter ... Librarian
Russell Porter ... Christopher Perkins
Beverley Jennings ... Aerobics Instructor
William Lawford ... Usher
A radical college professor accused of murder refuses to disclose his alibi while Ballard and Erskine Brown learn domestic lessons about the right to silence.
Leo McKern ... Horace Rumpole
Marion Mathie ... Hilda Rumpole
Patricia Hodge ... Phyllida Erskine-Brown
Julian Curry ... Claude Erskine-Brown
Peter Blythe ... Samuel Ballard Q.C.
Rowena Cooper ... Marguerite Ballard
Abigail McKern ... Liz Probert
Jonathan Coy ... Henry
James Grout ... Mr. Justice Ollie Oliphant
Christopher Benjamin ... Sir Denis Tolson
Andrew Robertson ... Hayden Charles
Maurice Roëves ... Clive Clympton
Sheila Ruskin ... Mercy Charles
Trevor T. Smith ... Martin Wayfield
Pauline Letts ... Mrs. O'Leary
Jemma Churchill ... Audrey Wystan
Anthony Dawes ... Mordaunt Bissett Q.C.
Angus Lennie ... Mr. Beazley
Simon Carter ... Librarian
Russell Porter ... Christopher Perkins
Beverley Jennings ... Aerobics Instructor
William Lawford ... Usher
Category
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TVTranscript
00:00This is Rumpo on the right to silence. I believe, and Rumpo believes, that the right to silence
00:11is an absolutely essential part of our criminal law, both in America and in England. And really
00:20the message of this story is that people may have totally other reasons for not wishing
00:27to say where they were at a certain time or a certain place, and it doesn't necessarily
00:33prove that they're guilty. But it is very important that the right to silence is preserved
00:40and is being rather pecked away at now in the English law.
00:57Not many dreaming spires around Gunster University. More like a concrete nightmare.
01:19Shhh, Rumpo.
01:26Honours degrees in the School of English.
01:30Russell Anwar Banerjee.
01:40Richard Harenko-Jones.
01:44August next.
01:48Audrey Whistine.
01:59First class degree in English. You never got a first in anything, Rumpo.
02:04In my experience, chaps that got a first class degree were never the slightest use down Oxford Magistrates' Court.
02:14Rumpo.
02:17Yes, well, that may be so, Mrs. Rumpo. But nevertheless, they are destroying our universities.
02:23Oh, you should see what they're trying to do to the law, Professor.
02:26We're going to be left with nothing but computer courses and business studies. Our masters are not interested in literature.
02:32Court trial by jury or freelance barristers or the right to silence?
02:36Oh, shush, Rumpo. You're not down the bailey now.
02:38The right to what?
02:39Silence. You see, if you're accused, you can stay quiet and make the prosecution prove their case. That's what they want to abolish.
02:46Bang goes freedom. The law has to work with business efficiency, just like a bank.
02:53Most of the people reading English are going into banks.
02:56Well, what can you expect, Audrey? With a vice-chancellor like Hayden Charles, who writes books about money.
03:02Harrison spends most of his life licking the boots of our chancellor, Sir Dennis Towson, the head of that great cultural institution, Towson's Tasty Foods.
03:12Oh, Professor Clinton, they do really rather a good frozen curry in the Gloucester Road, Towson.
03:17Oh, don't remind me.
03:18Perhaps they do, Mrs. Rumpo, but they don't do Latin.
03:21They haven't said anything yet, but I may be the last professor of classics the University of Gunster will have.
03:27Onus probandi, inflagrante delicto. Classics to go, yet the right of silence will be next. I wonder if even Wordsworth is safe.
03:38Wordsworth ended up a Tory.
03:40But yet I know, where'er I go, that they have passed away a glory from the earth. He can still bring tears to the eye.
03:51And what is the point of tears? The purpose of literature, my dear sir, is to promote social change.
03:57Your precious Wordsworth ended up betraying the French Revolution.
04:01Oh, well, if you say so.
04:06Excuse me.
04:08Clinton, he's a wonderful teacher. What did you think of him, Uncle Holmes?
04:12I think... I think I claim the right to silence.
04:17Come along, Rumpo. The vice-chancellor wants us to meet him.
04:21Congratulations. Do you have any plans for the media future?
04:24Oh, this is my aunt and uncle, Mr. and Mrs. Rumpo.
04:27How do you do? I'm Hayden Charles. How do you do? Have you met our Chancellor, Sir Dennis Tellson?
04:32No, we've never met. How do you do, Mr. Rumpo?
04:34How do you do?
04:37You must be delighted with Andrew's results.
04:39Well, we are. We are very proud of him.
04:41Nice meeting you.
04:42Nice meeting you. Thank you very much.
04:44Oh, pleasure. Bye-bye.
04:47Tell me, dear, who is that lady? She was at your mixtape.
04:52That's Mercy Charles, the vice-chancellor's wife.
04:56She used to be a model.
04:58A model wife and a model model.
05:17Rumpo.
05:19Hello, Bernard.
05:21You're working late.
05:23No, I'm just arranging my famous collection of priceless foreign stamps.
05:28Oh, are you?
05:30Of course I'm not.
05:32I just called in to put this away in my room.
05:35I'm sorry.
05:37It's all right, Bernard.
05:39It's all right.
05:41It's all right.
05:43I just called in to put this away in my room.
05:46This what?
05:48This bag.
05:50Oh, that.
06:04I wanted to speak to you.
06:09I mean, Rumpo, how do you find marriage?
06:12In my experience, you don't.
06:14It finds you.
06:16It comes creeping up unexpectedly and seizes you by the collar.
06:20How's Matey?
06:22My wife was a tremendously popular figure, wasn't she,
06:25when she was serving as matron down at the Old Bailey?
06:28Oh, damn hand with the elastoplast as far as I can remember, yes.
06:31Yes, much loved, wasn't she, by all you fellows.
06:34Ah, well, let's say highly respected.
06:36Highly respected, yes.
06:40Rumpo.
06:42Yes?
06:44What's your opinion of secrets in married life?
06:47Absolutely essential.
06:49Well, I wanted your opinion, you see, because of a slight, well,
06:52difference that has arisen between Marguerite and myself.
06:56Who the hell's Marguerite?
06:59Marguerite, Rumpo, is my wife.
07:02She's the person you call Matey.
07:04Oh, Matey, why didn't you say so?
07:06Well, you see, she called into chambers
07:08after her refresher course in sprains and fractures,
07:11and Henry told her I'd already left at five o'clock.
07:13You knocked off early.
07:15And he thoughtlessly added he imagined I'd gone home
07:17because I was carrying my tartan bag.
07:19He meant this very bag, Rumpo, this one.
07:21Now, it's most unfortunate that Henry should have mentioned this bag at all
07:24because I never take it home.
07:26Oh, no, of course not.
07:28And now, now, Marguerite keeps asking me,
07:30where am I going with that particular bag?
07:32Now, I've told her there are certain things, even in married life,
07:35that a man is entitled to keep to himself.
07:37Now, am I within my right, Rumpo?
07:39Your right to silence has been yours since Magna Carta.
07:42I'm glad you said that.
07:44I am glad to hear you say that as a married man.
07:46Of course, it doesn't stop the other side thinking the absolute worst.
07:51Ah, yes. Now, just at the moment, you see,
07:53that seems to be exactly what she thinks.
07:55Now, really, she needs something to take her mind off it.
07:58I mean it would make a tremendous difference
08:03to Marguerite's happiness
08:05if she saw more of you fellows in chambers.
08:07Oh, well, she can see us at any time.
08:09Not that we're much to look at.
08:11No, no. No, no.
08:13It would be a terrific help
08:15if you and Hilda
08:18were to invite her to dinner at your place.
08:21Let me understand.
08:23You are telling me in confidence
08:25that Maty would like to be asked to dinner at Gloucester Road?
08:28Yes. Yes, she would.
08:31Don't worry. I shan't say a word to Hilda about it.
08:34Rumple.
08:36Oh, yes. All right, I suppose.
08:38Dinner with she who must.
08:40Maty has a curious sense of fun.
08:44What have you got in that bag?
09:01Is that you, Rumple?
09:03Yes. Bad news. Yes.
09:05Pollard's invited himself and Maty to dinner.
09:08I begin to fear for that man's sanity, Hilda.
09:11He's creeping around with a sort of tartan holdall,
09:14the contents of which he refuses to divulge.
09:17Makes him look like a Scottish pox doctor.
09:20She's got no one else to turn to, Rumple.
09:22Her mother left home and her father didn't even bother to show up to her graduation.
09:26And she has heard.
09:28What are you talking about?
09:30What are you talking about?
09:32Well, I... Well, you'd better come in.
09:34Let her tell you herself.
09:36Oh, Gloris, thank God you've come.
09:38They've arrested Clive.
09:40Clive?
09:42Professor Clinton, you remember.
09:44Oh, yes, the academic revolutionary.
09:46He wants you. At his trial.
09:48Oh, very wise choice.
09:50What's the crime? Driving while tiddly?
09:52They say it's murder.
09:54He thinks you'll understand.
09:56Oh, yes, I do understand a bit about murder.
09:58No.
10:00He says he thinks you understand about keeping silent.
10:06You can rest assured
10:08Mr. Rumple has a fine record when it comes to murder.
10:11I've won more murders than you've had degrees, Professor.
10:14And some of your clients, they kept silent?
10:18Yes, when I thought it was right.
10:21Yes. Well, it's right now.
10:23I will decide that when I know a bit more about it.
10:26I've decided already.
10:30Professor Clinton, you have one hour of my time.
10:33What shall we do? Discuss Wordsworth?
10:35If you like.
10:37No, we shan't agree about Wordsworth.
10:39Let us discuss the late vice-chancellor,
10:42Mr. Hayden Charles, a slightly-built man
10:44who crashed through some worm-eaten bannisters to his death
10:47on a marble floor below his house.
10:50Pushed, no doubt, by a stronger opponent.
10:53You didn't like him?
10:55No, I didn't like his money-mad politics
10:57nor the way he ran the university.
10:59And Mrs. Charles?
11:03A very dear friend.
11:05As a matter of fact, she reads a lot of poetry.
11:07Mercy's quite bright for an ex-model.
11:10Yes, I'm quite bright for an old Bailey hack.
11:13I think I see a motive rearing its ugly head.
11:16I don't understand.
11:18Oh, do you not, Professor?
11:20Husband finds out about his beautiful wife's infidelity.
11:23Has it out with the lover in his study
11:25on the first floor of his house.
11:27A row develops and moves out onto the staircase.
11:30It grows violent.
11:32The lover is a stronger man than the husband.
11:36He takes him by the throat.
11:38That's where they found some bruising
11:40and pushes him against some bannisters.
11:42Unlike the rest of Gunster University,
11:44they are not made of reinforced concrete
11:47and they collapse.
11:48End of outraged husband.
11:50Lover runs down the stairs and out into the night
11:52and that, my lord, is the case for the prosecution.
11:55Yes, well, the prosecution can believe that if they like.
11:58And if the jury believe it?
12:01How can they? They have no evidence.
12:04Miss Probert, will you read Mr. Charles's letter?
12:09Miss Probert, will you read Mrs. O'Leary's statement to this fellow?
12:17I have been housekeeper at the vice-chancellor's house for ten years
12:21and before that I worked for Mr. and Mrs. Charles in Oxford.
12:24Blah, blah, blah, blah.
12:26I have observed an intimate friendship develop
12:29between Mrs. Charles and Professor Climpton.
12:31Blah, blah, blah.
12:33I heard quarrelling on the stairs shortly before 10 p.m.
12:36I heard Mr. Charles's voice and another man's.
12:39All I heard the other man say clearly
12:41was something about licking the chancellor's boots.
12:44I am quite sure I recognised Professor Climpton's voice.
12:49And do you believe that I'm the man she's talking about?
12:52Well, it seems probable, doesn't it?
12:54They're the exact words that I heard you use
12:56in the presence of at least half a dozen other people
12:58at her tea and sandwiches that afternoon.
13:01Mrs. O'Leary says she heard the doorbell ring at 20 minutes to 10.
13:05Mr. Charles called out that he would answer it,
13:08so she did not see whoever it was that arrived.
13:11Was it you?
13:15No.
13:16Then, Professor, you will have to tell us exactly where you were
13:19and what you were doing between 9.30 and just after 10 that evening
13:24when Mrs. O'Leary discovered the vice-chancellor dead.
13:31Where were you that evening, Professor?
13:35Oh, well, you will keep quiet.
13:39You are entitled to.
13:41But there is just one line of Wordsworth
13:44that it might pay you to remember,
13:47all silent and all damned.
13:53Rumpole, I must have your advice.
13:55Oh, you too, Erskine Brown. I ought to start charging.
13:58Philly's back from doing corrupt policemen in Hong Kong.
14:02Oh, splendid!
14:03She can buy us a bottle of Pomeroy's bubbly on the Oriental Constabulary.
14:07We shall celebrate.
14:08Absolutely nothing to celebrate
14:10in view of what she found when she got back.
14:13I'm afraid I had left, carelessly,
14:17on the kitchen table...
14:19Yes?
14:20two programs for Tristan and Isolde at Covent Garden.
14:24Pretty scurrilous reading, was our Portia shocked?
14:27Well, she asked who I'd taken to the opera.
14:30Ah.
14:31Well, of course, I'd been with Liz Probert, as you remember.
14:34We had a talk about the future of chambers
14:36in the crush bar at the interval.
14:39Well, of course, when your wife heard that,
14:41she decided not to press charges.
14:43Ah, well, now, that's exactly the trouble, Rumpole.
14:45She didn't hear that.
14:47In fact, to be perfectly honest with you,
14:50I didn't tell her that.
14:52I told her I took Uncle Tom.
14:55Uncle Tom?
14:57Exactly.
14:58To five hours of unmitigated Wagner?
15:01I'm afraid so.
15:03You must have eaten of the insane root.
15:05What takes the reason, prisoner?
15:08Well, now, look, this is the point, Rumpole.
15:10I knew that Phyllida wouldn't have taken kindly
15:12to the idea of Lizzie and me drinking champagne in the crush bar.
15:15Ah.
15:16Although, absolutely nothing happened.
15:18I mean, Lizzie bolted off down the underground
15:20almost as soon as the curtain fell.
15:22She even left me with her program,
15:24which is why I had two.
15:26But on our way from Chambers earlier,
15:29we met Uncle Tom,
15:31and he said it was his birthday.
15:33So when Phyllida asked me for an explanation,
15:35Uncle Tom just sprang to mind.
15:37Oh, Erskine Brown, have your long years at the criminal bar
15:40taught you nothing?
15:42If you must invent a story, at least make it credible.
15:44The point is, if Philly asks,
15:46Uncle Tom has got to back me up.
15:50Someone has got to explain the whole thing to him.
15:55Who has?
15:56Someone he respects.
15:58Yeah?
15:59Who has some influence over him.
16:01Yeah.
16:02You, Rumpole.
16:03No.
16:04Persuade Uncle Tom to commit perjury?
16:06Certainly not.
16:07You won't do it.
16:08Aye.
16:09Do your own dirty work, Erskine Brown.
16:12I suppose I'll have to.
16:14You should never have thought up such a ridiculous defense.
16:17She asked me to explain the two programs.
16:20What else could I possibly have done?
16:22Claim your right to silence.
16:26Everyone else seems to be doing it.
16:29The wonderful thing about marriage, you'd agree, Hilda,
16:32is telling each other everything.
16:34I'm sure when old Horace climbs into bed with you at night...
16:37You don't care for baked jam roll, Mrs. Ballard.
16:40Baked jam roll is on the naughty list, I'm afraid.
16:43We've all got to watch our tummies, haven't we?
16:47Marguerite is very keen on keeping fit,
16:50and I must say I'm with her, 100%.
16:53I've already lost a lot of weight.
16:55My trousers hang loose.
16:57No, thank you, Ballard.
16:59Sam's a new boy, of course, but we're old hands at marriage, aren't we, Hilda?
17:03When I was married to poor Henry Plumstead, who passed away,
17:06we told each other every little thing.
17:09We just knew all there was to know about each other.
17:12I'm sure old Horace would agree with that.
17:16Ah, now, old Horace isn't so sure.
17:19As regards the nearest and dearest,
17:21a profound ignorance is probably the best recipe for a happy marriage.
17:26You have quite finished, Dr. Rumple.
17:36Sam leaves his chambers early,
17:38carrying a zipper bag full of something.
17:41He doesn't come home?
17:43Later. When he does, the bag doesn't come with him.
17:47I hardly think this has anything to do with me, Mrs. Ballard.
17:50Oh, don't you? When I ask Sam what he's up to,
17:53and he tells me old Rumple takes the view
17:55that married people are entitled to a little privacy.
17:58Rumple says we all have the right to silence.
18:01You heard him. Even in married life.
18:04It seems he takes sides with husbands who are up to tricks.
18:08Do you approve of that, Hilda?
18:10Approve? Well, now you've come to ask me, no.
18:14I'm glad you said that.
18:16My old uncle used to live in Gunster, funnily enough.
18:19How amusing.
18:21He used to be an estate agent up there, but he had to give it up.
18:25He said you couldn't get anywhere in Gunster unless you were an Ostler.
18:28A what? An Ostler. The ancient order of Ostlers.
18:32It's rather like the Freemasons, only more so.
18:34My uncle didn't hold with it, so they squeezed him out.
18:37Did he tell you what they did, these Ostlers, or whatever they called themselves?
18:41All sorts of secret ceremonies, I believe.
18:44Mumbo-jumbo, Uncle Marcus said.
18:46They also had a very peculiar handshake. He showed me.
18:50Like that?
18:52Yes. Yes, I rather think it was.
18:57I might go up north and investigate the scene of the crime.
19:00Oh, is that the coffee, Hilda?
19:02Do you take sugar, Nigel?
19:04Just one tiny spoonful.
19:06I shall be going up to Gunster tomorrow, Hilda.
19:09No, thank you.
19:11Gunster, Hilda, it's in the north of England.
19:13I shall probably be taking my junior with me.
19:16Oh, do you take sugar, Mr Ballard?
19:18Yes, please, Hilda. No, thank you, Hilda.
19:21Miss Liz Probert, you won't mind that, will you?
19:24My solicitor will chaperone her.
19:26And are they still keeping you busy, Mr Ballard, in Daddy's old chambers?
19:30So I won't be here tomorrow night, Hilda. You won't be lonely, will you?
19:35The rest is silence.
19:38You spend your life licking the Chancellor's boots!
19:45Oh, do you hear that?
19:47Clearly.
19:49Could you tell it was me?
19:51Oh, it was you, all right. Just the sort of thing you would say.
19:54Oh, that's interesting. Well, go back.
19:56I'll do it again. This time I'll run down the stairs and across the hall.
20:00Did you say run, Rumpole?
20:02Ha, ha. Move fairly rapidly.
20:05I'll slam the front door behind me. See if you can hear that.
20:08All right. Come on, Mr Beasley.
20:13You're still here?
20:15Ah. You were kind enough to say we might inspect a scene of the crime.
20:20Rather a long inspection.
20:22Well, crimes take such a short time to commit and so terribly long to investigate.
20:28Do you think Professor Climpton killed your husband?
20:32Do you think he'll get him off?
20:34The Professor refuses to tell us where he was on the night in question.
20:38At the moment he's not being very helpful to me.
20:41What do you want me to do about it?
20:44Well, he could be keeping quiet to protect a woman.
20:47Rather an old-fashioned idea, I suppose, but it's possible, isn't it?
20:51That Clive was with me and doesn't want to tell anyone?
20:54Is that what you want me to do?
20:57Is that what you want me to say?
20:59Then I'll say it if that's what you want.
21:02Is it true?
21:04What's it matter to you if it's true or not?
21:06You're a lawyer, aren't you? It's your job to get Clive off.
21:11I said I'll help you. Isn't that a fair offer?
21:14You spend your life licking the Chancellor's boots.
21:18Craft!
21:27Good afternoon.
21:29We are engaged in the history of the fair city of Gunster.
21:33Do you have anything on the ancient order of Oslers?
21:36Order of what?
21:38Oslers. People who look after horses.
21:41Although I doubt there'd be many blacksmiths left among them now.
21:46No, more like chairman of committees, planners, property developers,
21:49chief constables, even, dare it be said, heads of universities.
21:56Well, important people in the long history of Gunster.
21:59I'm quite sure we haven't got anything like that.
22:02What? Your library is silent on this important subject?
22:05Nothing about it at all.
22:09Indeed, I haven't even heard of these grooms or whatever it is you're talking about.
22:13Mr. Rumpole, you're asking about the Oslers.
22:15Ah, the classics, Prof. Are they magusta or words to that effect?
22:20This is Miss Liz Privet, my junior on the Clinton case.
22:23Martin Wayfield, we met at the degree ceremony.
22:25Now, in my humble opinion, it's a load of nonsense.
22:28The degree ceremony?
22:30No, the ancient order of horse copers.
22:32I tell you, I was once coming out of the gents in the Gunstraps.
22:35Professor Wayfield, silence, please.
22:38What did you say?
22:39I mean, no talking.
22:41You know the rules of the library.
22:44Come over by the window. The students won't hear us there.
22:49Well, carry on, old dammit. You interest me strangely.
22:52You were just coming out of the gents' loo.
22:54And one of these fellows in a leather apron and gauntlets
22:57and a bloody great gilded horseshoe hung round his neck
23:00was just about to slink into the private dining room
23:02to swear some terrible oath of secrecy
23:04or to offer to have his throat cut if ever he let on what they get up to.
23:07They do that, apparently.
23:09Well, this chap used to be the university registrar.
23:13So I called out to him.
23:15Hello, Simkins. Your old lady cast a shoe, has she?
23:18He bolted like a rabbit.
23:20Tell me, the late vice-chancellor Hayden Charles,
23:23was he a member of the Brotherhood?
23:25Hayden always laughed about them.
23:27No, I'm sure he wasn't.
23:29I wanted to ask about Clive Clinton.
23:32Is he popular in the university?
23:34The lefty students love him, and there's plenty of those.
23:37Nelson Mandela and Clive Clinton, they're top of the pops.
23:41You've probably heard stories about his private life.
23:45Yes, are they true?
23:47Why not?
23:49Mercy Charles is a very attractive woman.
23:52Yes, everyone says that.
23:54Do you think she finds him a very attractive man?
23:57The woman is a cupid who says to her lover,
24:00In the wind and the rapids, write a report of water.
24:05Not everyone says that.
24:07What does it mean?
24:09But what a woman says to her lusting lover,
24:12It is best to write in wind and swift-flowing water.
24:16It's all there, in the Latin.
24:19And it's going to be forgotten when they abolish the classics.
24:23I ought to get back to my Catullus.
24:26Yes, give him my regards.
24:28Well, thank you, Professor, you've been most helpful.
24:31You've hurt your hand.
24:33What? Oh, no, no, nothing wrong with it at all.
24:37Ah, Rumpold, are you back from the scene of your crime?
24:40Yes, I imagine you're just on your way to yours.
24:45Yes, Rumpold.
24:47All right, old darling, not a word to Maitre.
24:56I'm sorry, I'm late.
24:58Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
25:04Mr. Justice Ollie Ollivant.
25:08Comes from up north, somewhere near Gunster.
25:11Specializes in down-to-earth common sense.
25:15Always prepared to call a spade a bloody shovel,
25:18Long before anyone's sure whether or not it's a toothpick.
25:22Now, when you were in the dining room on the night of this murder...
25:25Oh, my lord, I must object.
25:27No one has proved it was murder,
25:29Oh, my lord, I must object.
25:31No one has proved it was murder.
25:33It might have been anything from manslaughter to an accident.
25:36Oh, come, come, Mr. Rumpold.
25:38The jury and I'll use our common sense.
25:40Mr. Morton Bissett is simply using the word on the indictment.
25:43To use the word before it is proved, my lord, is not common sense.
25:47It is uncommon nonsense.
25:49If the defense is going nitpicking, Mr. Rumpold,
25:52We'll call it an incident. Will that satisfy you?
25:54It is not I that have to be satisfied, my lord.
25:57It is the interest of justice.
25:59Oh, come along, Mr. Morton Bissett.
26:01Let's get back to work, shall we?
26:03Oh, Mr. Rumpold's had his say.
26:05Mrs. O'Leary, you've told us that you could distinguish
26:08Some of the words the man on the stairs was shouting,
26:11And that you heard him say something about licking the chancellor's boots.
26:15I heard that, yes.
26:17Could you recognize the man's voice?
26:19I'm sure I could.
26:21Whose was it?
26:23It was his voice.
26:25Was it the voice of professor clinton?
26:27I'm sure it was.
26:29I'm sure it was.
26:31Have you any questions you want to put to this witness, Mr. Rumpold?
26:34That is what I am here for, my lord.
26:37Yes.
26:39Mrs. O'Leary, did you hear any other words
26:41You could distinguish from Mr. Charles' assailant?
26:44I heard him say, oh, loudly.
26:48Oh, yes, and then what?
26:50Well, it sounded like temporary.
26:54And then there was another oh,
26:57And then I think I heard more is.
27:01Does this make any sense to you, Mr. Rumpold?
27:04No, not at the moment, my lord.
27:06So this evidence is brought out merely to puzzle the jury, is it?
27:09Or perhaps to test their powers of deduction.
27:13And, Mrs. O'Leary, you said you heard the man shout
27:15Something about licking the chancellor's boots.
27:17She's told us that.
27:19Yes, my lord, but I would like to suggest when Mrs. O'Leary heard it.
27:23You heard it in afternoon tea, didn't you?
27:25When you were helping passing around sandwiches
27:27To the graduates and their families.
27:29You heard Professor Climpton say
27:31That the vice chancellor licked the chancellor's boots.
27:33It was said quite clearly.
27:35Oh, come, come, Mr. Rumpold.
27:36How do you know it was said quite clearly?
27:38You weren't there, were you?
27:39As a matter of fact, my lord, yes, I was.
27:41But I am not here to give evidence.
27:43This lady is.
27:44You heard it at tea time, didn't you?
27:46Yes, I did.
27:48I thought it was a disgusting thing to say about Mr. Charles.
27:51So when you heard those same words again at 10 p.m.
27:53Coming from the hallway, you naturally thought
27:56That it was Professor Climpton shouting.
27:59I thought so, yes.
28:01Because it was something you'd already heard him say.
28:04I had, yes.
28:06And if you heard those same words again at night
28:10From a man you never saw
28:12You would naturally assume it was Professor Climpton.
28:16I suppose so.
28:18Even though you couldn't really recognize the voice?
28:20I think I recognized it.
28:22You think you recognized it.
28:24Thank you very much, Mrs. O'Leary.
28:26Mrs. O'Leary, let's use our common sense about this, shall we?
28:29You told Mr. Mordaunt-Bissetts
28:31That you were sure it was Professor Climpton's voice.
28:34Yes.
28:35And you told Mr. Rumpold that you think it was.
28:39That's right.
28:41So does it come to this?
28:42You think you're sure?
28:45Yes, I suppose so.
28:48Common sense, members of the jury.
28:50It always does it, you know.
28:52No further questions.
28:53We're on.
28:59Mordaunt, old darling.
29:01A word in your pink and shell-like.
29:03Why did the prosecution start this case in London?
29:06Well, we've got to a North Country court.
29:09Oh, yes, thank you very much.
29:11No, what I mean is,
29:13the defense sometimes asks for a case to be moved
29:15because of local prejudice against the accused,
29:17but this time, the prosecution's done it.
29:19Did you think that a Gunster jury
29:21might be prejudiced in favor of Professor Climpton?
29:27Now, why should that be in Gunster?
29:30No comment.
29:34Are you, Mr. Rumpold,
29:37Are you Christopher Perkins?
29:39Yes.
29:40Did you graduate with first-class honors
29:42in business studies last July?
29:44Yes, I did.
29:45Speak up, lad.
29:46Sorry, sorry. Yes, I did.
29:48On the night of the incident,
29:50when the vice-chancellor died,
29:52were you crossing the quadrangle past Tolson buildings?
29:55Yes.
29:56What did you see?
29:58Well, I'd looked at my watch
30:00as I was due to meet a friend at the JCR,
30:02and it was just 9.15.
30:04Then I saw Professor Climpton coming out of his rooms,
30:06and he seemed to be in rather a hurry.
30:08Oh, and he was carrying a bag, I remember.
30:10There's no need to shout.
30:12Thank you, Mr. Perkins.
30:14Oh, we haven't heard about the bag.
30:16What was it like?
30:17Oh, just an ordinary zipper hold-all.
30:19I thought he was on his way to play squash or something.
30:22On his way to play squash?
30:24Of course, I didn't know what was in it.
30:26Three, six, two.
30:29Ah, Rumpold.
30:32No, Henry, excuse me, late.
30:36Hello.
30:37Ah, Gunster University.
30:39I want to speak, please, to Miss Audrey Whiston.
30:42Whiston with a W.
30:44She's a postgraduate.
30:46Hmm?
30:47Oh, the English department.
30:49Yes, I'll wait. Thank you.
31:03Ah, you going down the pan in R versus Climpton, Mr. Rumpold?
31:07Ah, sinking with all hands, Henry,
31:09unless I can pull off a miracle.
31:11Oh, hello.
31:12Excuse me.
31:13Audrey.
31:14Henry, note.
31:16Audrey, it's your Uncle Horace.
31:20Yes, how are you?
31:22Fine.
31:24I've got a letter for you.
31:26Oh, thank you.
31:28Yes, how are you?
31:30Fine.
31:31Look, do you want to help the professor?
31:34Good.
31:35I want you to get into his room.
31:37Of course you can.
31:40Well, say, the lawyer needs something for the trial.
32:58Okay.
33:28Thank you.
33:59My lord, I have given notice to my learned friend
34:02of my intention to call an alibi witness.
34:05And you don't object, Mr. Morton, beside?
34:07No, my lord, I have no object.
34:09Very well, then.
34:11Dennis Tolson.
34:12What?
34:13What's happening?
34:15I forbid this!
34:17I absolutely forbid it!
34:19Mr. Rumpold, Miss Frederick, don't hold his hand, will you?
34:22No, I won't have it, I tell you, I won't!
34:24Quiet!
34:27I swear by Almighty God
34:29that the evidence I shall give shall be the truth,
34:31the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
34:34Are you Sir Dennis Tolson?
34:36I am.
34:37Stop him! What does he think he's doing?
34:39Mr. Rumpold, control your clients.
34:41Mr. Rumpold does no best.
34:42No!
34:43Mr. Rumpold!
34:44Your client's creating a disturbance.
34:46Oh, is he really, my lord?
34:47I'm so sorry, it's these literary fellows,
34:49they have a very excitable nature.
34:51Well, he's not getting excitable in my court.
34:53Do you understand that, Clemson?
34:55Any more of this nonsense, you'll be taken down to the cells.
34:58Now!
35:01Did you say Sir Dennis Tolson?
35:03Yes, my lord.
35:04Well, well, some of us do our weekly shop-off
35:07at Tolson's Tasty Foods, don't we, members of the jury?
35:10Well, it may interest you to know, Sir Dennis,
35:12I come from your part of England.
35:14Is that so, my lord?
35:15Oh, yes, sir.
35:16I used to practice often at the old Gunster Assizes, you know.
35:20I never dreamt I'd find myself sitting down here at the old Bailey.
35:23Yes, it came as a bit of a shock to us too, old love.
35:28Sir Dennis, do you attend here by summons?
35:31He beserved on me last night.
35:33It was most inconvenient.
35:34Yes, I'm very sorry, but it would be most inconvenient
35:37if my client had to go to jail for a crime he did not commit.
35:41Are you an Osler?
35:43Is he a what, Mr Rumpold?
35:45A member of the Ancient Order of Oslers, my lord,
35:47an organisation with considerable power and influence
35:50in the city of Gunster.
35:52I, the great blacksmith and forger of the universe.
35:54That means you are.
35:56He does not permit us to reveal our secrets.
35:59Ah, well, don't bother about the great blacksmith for the moment.
36:02His lordship is in control here,
36:04and he will direct you to answer my questions.
36:06Provided they're relevant.
36:08Have you anything to say, Mr Morton, please?
36:10I think that a vent should be allowed to put its case, my lord.
36:13We have to consider the, um, Court of Appeal.
36:17The Court of Appeal?
36:19The Court of Appeal?
36:22Yes, of course we have to.
36:24Well, get on with it, Mr Rumpold.
36:27The jury don't want to be kept here all night, you know.
36:31Are most of the important people in Gunster members of the Oslers?
36:35Our Oslers are men of talent and ambition, yes.
36:38And is membership a path to promotion
36:41in local government, say, or perhaps the university?
36:44An Osler will do his best to help another Osler, yes.
36:48All things being equal.
36:50And all things being equal,
36:52a professor of English might do well to join you
36:55if he had his eye on a vice chancellorship, say, in the fullness of time.
37:01Professor Climpton is one of our members,
37:04if that's what you're getting at.
37:06That's exactly what I'm getting at, Sir Dennis. Thank you very much.
37:09Now, tell me, did the Oslers have a meeting on the night that Hayden Charles met his death?
37:13As a matter of fact, we did.
37:15At what time did the meeting begin?
37:17Our normal time, 9.30.
37:19Where was it?
37:20The Gunster Arms Hotel.
37:22And what time did Professor Climpton arrive?
37:26About ten minutes before the meeting was due to begin.
37:29That's 9.20, when Hayden Charles was still alive.
37:32What time did he leave?
37:35We broke up around midnight.
37:37We had a few drinks when the meeting was over.
37:39And by 11 o'clock, the police had arrived and found Hayden Charles dead.
37:43Professor Climpton was with you all that time, from 9.20 until midnight?
37:47Yes. He initiated a couple of candidates.
37:50Yes, thank you, Sir Dennis. You may keep all the rest of your secrets intact.
37:54Yes, Mr. Borden, visit.
37:56Sir Dennis, can you be sure Professor Climpton was with you the whole time,
38:00from 9.20 until midnight?
38:02Of course I'm sure.
38:04What on earth was a decent left-wing professor doing with a load of old businessmen in aprons?
38:10Well, well, well, Miss Probert.
38:13I see that he's no longer fit to be mentioned in the same breath as Nelson Mandela.
38:18Perhaps that's why you'll never forgive me for getting him off.
38:21He's lost the young.
38:24Oh, Philly, darling. There you are.
38:28Yes, here I am.
38:33I saw Uncle Tom.
38:35Oh, did you, darling? How was he?
38:38I asked him if he'd been to the opera with you recently.
38:41Oh, yes, he did.
38:43He said he'd been to the opera with me.
38:45He said he'd been to the opera with me.
38:47He said he'd been to the opera with me.
38:49How was he?
38:51I asked him if he'd been to the opera with you.
38:53Oh, did you?
38:55Why did you do that?
38:57I wanted to find out.
38:59But I told you I went to the opera with Uncle Tom, darling.
39:02Surely my word was good enough for you.
39:04No, Claude, your word was not enough. I had to find out.
39:07I thought you'd given that up.
39:09Given up finding out?
39:11No. Given up smoking.
39:13Oh, well, I had, yes, until this happened.
39:15Until what happened?
39:16Until I talked to Uncle Tom.
39:18He didn't tell you that he went to Cotton Garden with me?
39:20Oh, yes, he did.
39:22He said you'd been very kind and taken him to a show.
39:25Well, then.
39:27That's all right, then, isn't it?
39:29Is it?
39:30Isn't it?
39:31Of course it is.
39:33You can always trust me, Philly.
39:35Good old Uncle Tom.
39:37He told you we saw Tristan and Isolde together, hmm?
39:41In a way.
39:43What do you mean, in a way?
39:45He mentioned a show about Tristan and some other chap whose name he couldn't remember.
39:48I said, I'd hardly call Isolde a chap.
39:51Well, perhaps his memory's gone a bit.
39:53His memory seemed perfectly clear.
39:55He said you had an absolutely splendid evening.
39:57There, now.
39:58I'm delighted he enjoyed it.
40:00Oh, yes, he did.
40:01He said what a wonderfully happy show it was.
40:04Would you call Tristan and Isolde a happy show, Claude?
40:08Is that the word that would spring immediately to mind?
40:10Happy bits, of course.
40:12Perhaps not entirely happy.
40:15Perhaps bloody miserable.
40:18Oh, and Uncle Tom told me he was whistling the tunes all the way home.
40:21He actually sang one of them to me.
40:23If you were the only boy in the world
40:26And I were the only girl
40:29Nothing else would matter in the world today
40:32We would go on loving in this...
40:34Well, we wouldn't, Claude.
40:35I'll tell you that for nothing.
40:38We certainly would not.
40:44Philly, please.
40:47Come back.
40:48Please.
41:01Marguerite was insistent that I keep down
41:04What she calls my naughty tummy.
41:07I talked of practically nothing else.
41:09Oh, don't I know.
41:10Well, in the end, I could stand it no more.
41:12I saw an advertisement for this studio.
41:15It seemed very jolly.
41:16Music and, you know...
41:18Young lady?
41:19Yes, well, that's why I kept it from Marguerite.
41:22I thought she might not appreciate that aspect of it.
41:25Oh, I don't know, Bellard.
41:26I think she might admire your heroism.
41:29Tell her you got into that purple jumpsuit just for her.
41:33You've lost, haven't you?
41:35A couple of inches.
41:36And the trousers hang loose.
41:37Superb!
41:38Well, tell her of it.
41:39Post of it to her, Bellard.
41:41That's really your advice to me, Rumpo?
41:43Of course, yes.
41:44The time for secrets is past, old darling.
41:46Let it all come out into the open.
41:53And the professor's entitled to keep silent, members of the jury.
41:57But you have had Sir Dennis Tolson's evidence.
42:01Some of you brought your sandwiches in Tolson's bags, didn't you?
42:05And Sir Dennis is quite sure that the professor was at the meeting
42:10when the deceased man fell from the staircase.
42:15Now, has he any reason for inventing that?
42:18Use your common sense, members of the jury.
42:21Now, take all the time you need to consider your verdict.
42:36You're taking a great deal of interest in this case, Professor?
42:40Oh, why not?
42:42Clive Climpton's a valued colleague.
42:44Yes.
42:46And Hayden Charles was not such a valued colleague, was he?
42:52What do you mean?
42:54I've been thinking about those odd words Mrs O'Leary heard.
42:59Oh, more is.
43:01As I said, I have very little Latin.
43:04But didn't Cicero express his disgust with the age he lived in?
43:10Oh, tempora.
43:12Oh, moris.
43:14Oh, our horrible times and our dreadful customs.
43:17Oh, worse than that.
43:19Oh, mortis.
43:21Oh, mortis.
43:23Oh, mortis.
43:25Oh, our horrible times and our dreadful customs.
43:28Oh, worse than that.
43:30Yes, Cicero said that, yes.
43:34And did a Latin professor shout them on the stairs,
43:38furious with the man who was going to kill off the classics at Gunster University?
43:42I don't understand what you're saying, Mr Rumple.
43:44Oh, do you not, Professor?
43:46Licking the Chancellor's boots,
43:49turning Gunster into a training ground for accountants and bankers.
43:55You thought it was a pretty good description of Charles' activities.
43:58So good, in fact, it was worth shouting at him again on the stairs.
44:01Mr Rumple, you argued Clive's case very well.
44:04Vice-Chancellor was taken by the throat with a very strong grasp.
44:08I've felt your handshake, Professor.
44:11He was pushed against the banisters
44:14by a man who thought their whole of his life,
44:18everything he believed in, was threatened.
44:21Isn't that possible?
44:23And who is suggesting this?
44:25I am.
44:27Only me.
44:29If anyone else does,
44:31I'll be glad to be the first to make them prove it.
44:35Because there's really no evidence, is there?
44:38Look, if...
44:39Just a rough translation from the Latin.
44:41If you're ever in Gunster again, do give me a ring.
44:44We may have dinner together.
44:46I'll give you my number.
44:49Well, thank you all the same, Professor,
44:52I think I'll give Gunster a wide berth from now on.
44:55Well, here's my number anyway.
44:58The jury's back, Mr Rumple. I think they've got a verdict.
45:01Oh, thank you.
45:05Yes.
45:10All hail Henry Erskine Brown. It was a famous victory.
45:14I thought you were sinking with all hands, Mr Rumple.
45:17Oh, we were, but we managed to make port safely
45:19thanks to my impeccable navigation.
45:21He gets pretty intolerable when he wins.
45:25Oh, dear God, you look as dejected as my ungrateful client.
45:29You know what happened, Rumple?
45:31Phyllida spoke to Uncle Tom.
45:33I hope he cooperated.
45:35Enthusiastically. He said he enjoyed Tristan,
45:37and especially the bit in it about if you were the only girl in the world.
45:41That defence was always impossible. I told you that.
45:45However, it may be all right.
45:47Are you going to teach Uncle Tom the love duet?
45:50No, not that. I told Phyllida it was all down to you, Rumple.
45:53All down to me?
45:55Yes, I said that you wanted me to meet Lizzie at the Opera House
45:58to discuss the future of Chambers,
46:00and suggested I should tell Phyllida I'd gone with Uncle Tom
46:03in case she was annoyed about me taking Liz.
46:05And, well, it may just have worked.
46:08She said it was typical of your underhand methods, Rumple,
46:11but she's thinking it over.
46:13It's your wife, Mr Erskine Brown.
46:15Thank you, Claude. Thank you very much indeed.
46:18Philly.
46:20Well...
46:22Yes.
46:24Darling.
46:26Of course I love you.
46:33You know what gave me the idea in the first place?
46:36The prosecution bringing the case to London.
46:38They were afraid that the Oslers on a gunster jury
46:41would let their fellow Osler off.
46:44You see what I mean?
46:46Secrets.
46:48It's extraordinary, Hilda,
46:50the secrets that people think are so important.
46:52Take my professor, for example.
46:54He would rather go to jail
46:57than lose the respect of his students
46:59by admitting he was a secret member of the Oslers.
47:02You do follow me, don't you?
47:05Oh, yes, of course he wanted it.
47:07Always.
47:09He wanted to be a hero to the young,
47:11and at the same time he wanted the secret help of the ancient order.
47:15You see what I mean?
47:19Ah, the other professor.
47:21The Latin scholar.
47:23Yes, well, he didn't have much to say,
47:25but I could see he found it very difficult to keep quiet.
47:28Exceedingly difficult.
47:30He gave me his card.
47:33Yeah.
47:35And, uh, put his number on it,
47:38and he wrote some sort of quotation.
47:41Latin, of course.
47:48I've got my old school dictionary somewhere.
47:51I'd better steal sticks of ink and cobstoppers.
47:55There we are.
47:57Hello? Yes, speaking.
48:00Oh, Margaret.
48:02Oh, not struck dumb after all.
48:05Rumpole told Sam to tell you.
48:07He said that.
48:11Gymnastics.
48:13A silver and wood.
48:16Yes, that must be a relief, dear.
48:19Yes.
48:21Yes, Rumpole can be quite sensible at times.
48:24Quite, quite a bit to seek.
48:26I'm glad to hear that your Sam has come to his senses, too.
48:31Right. Goodbye.
48:33Hello, Rumpole.
48:35I hear you've given your head of chambers some sound advice.
48:38She speaks miracle of miracles.
48:40And you told him that you didn't believe in secrets between married people.
48:44What, secrets between married couples?
48:47Oh, perish the thought.
48:49Now, verum. Oh, well, that's pretty obvious.
48:53Sam's trousers hang loose.
48:56Your trousers don't hang loose, do they, Rumpole?
48:59Take-up gymnastics lose four inches round the waist.
49:02Life's sound battle.
49:04What, prance around in a purple jumpsuit to the sound of disco music?
49:09Oh, heaven forfeit.
49:11Now, what does the...
49:13Oh, Lord, of course.
49:15This is quite well known. It's Horace.
49:18Horace. That's a coincidence.
49:21And seek for truth in the groves of academe.
49:26Yes.
49:28There, you see, Hilda.
49:30Even the Latin professor...
49:34..could not keep silent.
50:00MUSIC CONTINUES
50:30MUSIC CONTINUES
51:00MUSIC CONTINUES