Thursday March 11, 2010

Writing an obituary. Assignment Due tomorrow, Friday 12 March
Please read the introductory material, followed by the writer / barrister John Mortimer's obituary from this past December.
While there are templates that one uses everyday in the paper- a standard 7 lines, those people who are considered socially significant warrent much larger memorials. And so shall youi. Model your own obituary in the sytle of Mortimer's. Note public and personal life. Be imaginative and creative. And have fun!

Please send your completed obituary as an e-mail attachment.

By the way, the slang expression for an obituary is the Irish sports page.


Writing obits. For generations, the journalism culture demanded that young reporters cut their teeth on obituary stories – “writing obits,” we would say. The thinking was that obituaries were easy to write and possibly not very interesting or important. Today, in many newspapers (except for the larger ones), the obit story has been relegated to a classified advertisement. But writing obits is important work. It always has been. Bert Barnes spent 20 years at the Washington Post writing obituaries before retiring in March 2004. He has written an article for the Post about his experiences on the obit desk. In it he says:

I loved that work. It taught me that even in the monotony of the daily grind, life could be funny and beautiful, surprising and strange. Death is no big deal if you don't love life. I only wish I could have met more of the people I wrote about.

One of the first exercises I had in a beginning news writing class in college was to write my own obituary. All of us in the class had to do that, and we had a lot of fun with it. I remember trying to figure out who the pallbearers would be. I still think that’s a good assignment for a beginning student because they have all the information available without having to interview anyone or look anything up.

Sample obituary:

Obituary: Sir John Mortimer

Sir John Mortimer, who has died aged 85, was a celebrated barrister, author and raconteur. He often used his legal exploits to fuel his writing, and his most famous courtroom creation was Rumpole of the Bailey.

"I was raised , educated and clothed almost entirely on the proceeds of cruelty, adultery and neglect," he said of his upbringing as the son of a successful divorce lawyer.

Sir John's prodigious career was shaped by two events at a young age. His father lost his eyesight, and it became the youngster's duty to describe the world and keep his blind father entertained.

His father made it clear he expected his only son to take over his legal practice, and so Sir John began a career in law, later becoming a Queen's Counsel.

He first came to the public eye when he successfully defended Oz magazine against charges of obscenity in 1971.

He had already acted for Penguin Books when they published Lady Chatterley's Lover by DH Lawrence. Later, he successfully defended the Sex Pistols when their Never Mind The Bollocks, Here's The Sex Pistols album resulted in an attempted prosecution.

Permissive society

Sir John became a beacon for the permissive society, but also defended high moral standards. "Liberty is allowing people to do things you disapprove of," he said.

Already the author of several plays and novels, Sir John wrote Voyage Round My Father in 1971. A loose set of anecdotes about his childhood and late father, the play was later adapted into a successful television film starring Laurence Olivier.


Two instalments of autobiography, Clinging to the Wreckage and Murderers and other Friends, followed.
Displaying his offbeat view of life, Sir John revealed in the latter how he found murderers "really the most relaxed people" he had come across.

"Generally, they had disposed of the one person that was irritating them," he said.

Sir John rose at 5am each morning to write, and his prodigious workload brought him success in many fields.

As well as the adaptation of Voyage Round my Father, he brought his own novels Summer's Lease and Paradise Postponed to television.

'Breakfast with a fraudster'

In 1981, he translated Evelyn Waugh's classic novel Brideshead Revisited into a phenomenally successful television series, and wrote the film screenplay of the 1999 film Tea with Mussolini.

A celebrated member of the literati and one-time chairman of the Royal Court, Sir John led a self-professed double life for many years.

He described a typical day as "breakfast with a fraudster, down to the cells to see a murderer, and off to rehearsals at the end of the day".

When he left the Bar, Sir John channelled his adversarial energy into his character, Rumpole of the Bailey, portrayed on screen by Leo McKern.

After making its debut as a BBC television play in 1975, Rumpole became an ITV series in 1978 and brought its creator fame across the world. In 1980 it was adapted for radio with Maurice Denham in the lead role, with Timothy West picking up the part in 2003.

Sir John was the quintessential champagne socialist, a champion for reform and permissiveness, who nevertheless lived in the wealthy Chilterns and backed the monarchy and fox-hunting.

Despite failing health, he remained active well into later life, attending the February 2008 launch of his play, Legal Fictions, in a wheelchair.

He told The Times: "One of my weaknesses is that I like to start the day with a glass of champagne before breakfast. When I mentioned that on a radio show once, I was asked if I had taken counselling for it."

Large and idiosyncratic

He remained disappointed by the modern Labour Party, saying, "we don't ask for much, but it would be nice to have a spoonful of socialism".


He was married twice, the first time to author Penelope Mortimer. After their marriage collapsed, her autobiography detailed infidelities and rows.
Sir John would say only that "marriage between two writers is always difficult".

His second wife, Penny, was a model booker when he met her, and 23 years his junior. Sir John was able to explore this true life theme of age difference in his novel The Sound of Trumpets.

Although he constantly borrowed from his life to enhance his writing, he remained as large and idiosyncratic as any character he created.

In his novel, Felix in the Underworld, the book's central accusation is that the novelist expects others to live out dramatic moments for him.

From the clapboard home of his childhood to the wooden benches of the High Court, the same could not be said of Sir John Mortimer.


Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/entertainment/1023315.stm

Published: 2009/01/16 12:27:37 GMT