- In September 2004, it was revealed that he had a second son, Ross Bentley, born in 1962 and the result of a short affair with Wendy Craig.
- Openly political, he described himself as a "champagne socialist".
- He successfully defended Oz magazine against charges of obscenity in 1971.
- He was played by Simon Callow in the television movie The Trials of Oz (1991).
- In 1971, his play Bermondsey featured the first gay kiss seen on a West End stage (the actors were Denholm Elliott and Joss Ackland).
- During his career as a barrister, Mortimer successfully defended the likes of Sex Pistols when the band was arrested on obscenity charges over the release of its 1974 album "Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols." The prosecution's argument was that the word "bollocks," as a derivative of '"testicles," was an offensive term. Virgin Records founder Richard Branson was also embroiled in the controversy for having the album boldly displayed in his store window.
- He became an Associate Member of RADA.
- He represented actress Margaret Leighton in her divorce suit against Laurence Harvey.
- On the later Rumpole DVDs he provided a brief introduction to each story, giving the viewer background and context for each story.
- He was awarded the CBE in 1986 and knighted in the 1998 Queen's Birthday Honours List for his services to Literature.
- He attended Brasenose College at Oxford University in Oxford, England.
- He defended Wole Soyinka, fellow writer and Nobel Laureate, in Nigeria of criminal charges.
- He was the father of Sally Silverman and Jeremy Mortimer with his first wife, and Emily Mortimer and Rosie Mortimer with his second wife.
- He was the father-in-law of Alessandro Nivola.
- He was the son of Clifford and Kathleen May Smith Mortimer.
- Both his wives were called Penelope. The first - formerly Mrs. Penelope Dimont - was a well-known novelist and film critic and was five years his senior. The second, formerly Penelope Gollop, had a child by him before they married and was many years his junior.
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