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A Voyage Round My Father
John Mortimer’s autobiographical play is the affectionate portrait of a son’s relationship with his father. Growing up in the shadow of the brilliant barrister, who adored his garden and hated visitors, and whose blindness was never mentioned, the son continually yearns for his father’s love and respect.
92 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1971
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About the author
John Mortimer
252 books231 followersJohn Clifford Mortimer was a novelist, playwright and former practising barrister. Among his many publications are several volumes of Rumpole stories and a trilogy of political novels, Paradise Postponed, Titmuss Regained and The Sound of Trumpets, featuring Leslie Titmuss - a character as brilliant as Rumpole. John Mortimer received a knighthood for his services to the arts in 1998.
Series:
Rumpole of the Bailey
Rapstone Chronicles
Series:
Rumpole of the Bailey
Rapstone Chronicles
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
September 25, 2025
A Voyage Round My Father by John Mortimer
Another version of this note and thoughts on other books are available at:
- https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list...
"All education is useless, but it fills in the time"
This is just one of the controversial, at times outlandish pronouncements of the father.
He is the hero of the narrative, albeit the son resembles the father more and more, as he grows up and then old.
I listened earlier to an adaptation for the BBC.
There is also a film based on John Mortimer's work.
Laurence Olivier plays the father and Alan Bates the son.
The father is a rather unusual, eccentric character and not just because he is blind.
He was not born blind, but when he tried to work up on a ladder, he fell from a tree in his garden.
The result was ghastly, with the eyes out of their sockets.
Nevertheless, the challenged man does not like to mention the blindness.
His son is the storyteller and I understand has much in common with John Mortimer, this being an autobiographical account.
The narrator is flabbergasted by the fact that father does not get mad at his misfortune, but instead gets worked up for a...running egg.
There are many humorous scenes, with the father being quite funny ...sometimes.
He can also be annoying, or have his humor verge towards the absurd.
Trying to explain this son the disappointment of sex, love life he says
- Sex is overrated
Then a story with a husband, a lover and a wife that is appalled when her husband and lover seem to communicate well, instead of fighting over her.
- What was the point?
- Well, I don't know...
The son meets, as he is a young man now, with two women who may, or may not be lesbians.
One of them is called Bill and seemed to me rather militaristic.
In school, there is a headmaster who says that he is known as...Noah.
And then he goes on to give all the nicknames of staff and teachers.
After some mild adventures, the son encounters a woman that he likes.
A lot.
The meeting with this difficult, outre, special blind man is feared.
It is a challenge since he means only half of what he says.
One will be puzzled and wonder which half he mean, says Elizabeth.
Elizabeth has children, but she is willing to marry the son.
In her, we find another atypical personage, that is more than outspoken, she may indeed come across as a bit rude.
She asks her would be father-in-law:
- Why do you worry so much about this garden?
- You do not see the flowers anyway...
- Elizabeth...
- What? He is blind, isn't he?
This is a very interesting and entertaining play.
Another version of this note and thoughts on other books are available at:
- https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list...
"All education is useless, but it fills in the time"
This is just one of the controversial, at times outlandish pronouncements of the father.
He is the hero of the narrative, albeit the son resembles the father more and more, as he grows up and then old.
I listened earlier to an adaptation for the BBC.
There is also a film based on John Mortimer's work.
Laurence Olivier plays the father and Alan Bates the son.
The father is a rather unusual, eccentric character and not just because he is blind.
He was not born blind, but when he tried to work up on a ladder, he fell from a tree in his garden.
The result was ghastly, with the eyes out of their sockets.
Nevertheless, the challenged man does not like to mention the blindness.
His son is the storyteller and I understand has much in common with John Mortimer, this being an autobiographical account.
The narrator is flabbergasted by the fact that father does not get mad at his misfortune, but instead gets worked up for a...running egg.
There are many humorous scenes, with the father being quite funny ...sometimes.
He can also be annoying, or have his humor verge towards the absurd.
Trying to explain this son the disappointment of sex, love life he says
- Sex is overrated
Then a story with a husband, a lover and a wife that is appalled when her husband and lover seem to communicate well, instead of fighting over her.
- What was the point?
- Well, I don't know...
The son meets, as he is a young man now, with two women who may, or may not be lesbians.
One of them is called Bill and seemed to me rather militaristic.
In school, there is a headmaster who says that he is known as...Noah.
And then he goes on to give all the nicknames of staff and teachers.
After some mild adventures, the son encounters a woman that he likes.
A lot.
The meeting with this difficult, outre, special blind man is feared.
It is a challenge since he means only half of what he says.
One will be puzzled and wonder which half he mean, says Elizabeth.
Elizabeth has children, but she is willing to marry the son.
In her, we find another atypical personage, that is more than outspoken, she may indeed come across as a bit rude.
She asks her would be father-in-law:
- Why do you worry so much about this garden?
- You do not see the flowers anyway...
- Elizabeth...
- What? He is blind, isn't he?
This is a very interesting and entertaining play.
September 11, 2018
1983 Edition includes :
A voyage round my father
The dock brief
What shall we tell Caroline?
I'd read and enjoyed 'Clinging to the wreckage ' a number of years ago, and have quite fond
memories of Rumpole.
These plays haven't aged well. There are a few lines which still ring true, but there's little to
empathise with either characters or circumstances.
A voyage round my father
The dock brief
What shall we tell Caroline?
I'd read and enjoyed 'Clinging to the wreckage ' a number of years ago, and have quite fond
memories of Rumpole.
These plays haven't aged well. There are a few lines which still ring true, but there's little to
empathise with either characters or circumstances.
August 6, 2015
It was nice, infused with a cheerful but shrewd type of nostalgia. It had really "randomly" hilarious moments, like the Headmaster declaring the dangers of being offered cake (ah, euphemisms) but was also funny in the fond, exasperated way the father is portrayed.
Watching the son "become" the father was also interesting, as was the peculiar way none of them spoke about the father's blindness.
Worth the read.
Watching the son "become" the father was also interesting, as was the peculiar way none of them spoke about the father's blindness.
Worth the read.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 13, 2010
Deliciously, dangerously funny. Reads extremely well considering its a play and i am able to skip the set directions without getting into trouble with the narrative. I think John Mortimer should be acclaimed for writing with such verve of fathers and father figures. He is the author of Rumpole of the Bailey after all.
November 22, 2016
Endearing autobiographical of John Mortimer's eccentric father.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews