: The term used in the Rumpole series originally came from a Victorian
: romance/adventure novel "She" by Rider Haggard about Ayesha or
: "She Who Must Be Obeyed" the queen of a mysterious lost African
: kingdom. It just made my day to be able to add something to a PGJ post
: On the downside, you have to be old enough to remember reading it as a kid
:

Um, that would make you pretty old, but obviously age has not diminished your memory.

Could very well be that John Mortimer's barrister stole the line from an older novel, or even an old film. Yes, even for a character based in the 1960's that would have been an old film.

The first instance I can find of a film made from this H. Rider Haggard novel was in 1899, and titled "La Colonne de feu" It is also known as "She: the pillar of Fire".

The movie "She" has been remade many times. I guess someone in Hollywood hasn't seen it yet.

Hagard himself was born in 1856 and died in 1925. This link will bring you to a short biography: http://us.imdb.com/Name?Haggard,%20H.%20Rider

The filmography of H. Rider Haggard is at:

http://us.imdb.com/Name?Haggard,%20H.%20Rider

Check out the writeup for the 1965/I version of the movie.

http://us.imdb.com/Title?0059710

Ayesha shows up in titles in later films, such as "The Vengence of She" (poster shown below)

Thanks for the response, and the careful reading of my posts -- even the off topic ones.

PGJ