Dear Lupin

Roger Mortimer was born in 1909 and educated at Ludgrove, Eton and Sandhurst. In 1930 he was commissioned into the Coldstream Guards. He fought at Dunkirk in 1940, was captured and spent the remainder of the war as a POW. After resigning from the army in 1947, he became racing correspondent for The Sunday Times for almost thirty years. He wrote several classic books on racing including The History of the Derby. He met Cynthia Denison-Pender in 1947 and married the same year. They had two daughters: Jane and Louise, and one son, Charles. Roger died in 1991. Charlie Mortimer was educated (reluctantly) at Eton. Now describing himself as a ‘middle-aged, middle-class spiv (mostly retired)’, amongst other things he was in the Coldstream Guards, a vintage-car restorer, oil-rig roughneck and pop-group manager, as well as a boatboy/mechanic in Africa, car salesman in California, manufacturer of boxer shorts in Asia and an antiques dealer. He now lives in West London with his partner. Michael Simkins is an actor and author, and is a familiar face both on TV and on the West End stage. Musicals include Sam Carmichael in Mamma Mia!, Billy Flynn in Chicago, Paul in Sam Mendes’ award-winning production of Company (Donmar Warehouse and Noël Coward Theatre), and Oh! What a Lovely War at Stratford East. In 2011 he fulfilled a lifelong ambition by appearing in a Gilbert and Sullivan spectacular on Friday Night is Music Night. Theatre credits include Hay Fever (Duke of York’s Theatre), Yes, Prime Minister (UK tour and Trafalgar Studios), Donkey’s Years (Harold Pinter Theatre), Mary Stuart (Apollo Theatre), and Democracy (Wyndham’s Theatre). In addition Michael has appeared in hundreds of TV dramas, usually as policemen or unsuspecting husbands. Film credits include The Iron Lady, V for Vendetta, and Topsy-Turvy. Michael is also a best-selling author, journalist and broadcaster. Books include What’s My Motivation, the Costa-nominated Fatty Batter, Detour de France, The Last Flannelled Fool, and most recently The Rules of Acting. He is a regular contributor to the Daily Telegraph and The Times, as well as Radio 4’s Today and Front Row. Dear Lupin is his first play.