
Rumpole's Last Case
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Narrated by:
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Frederick Davidson
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By:
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John Mortimer
About this listen
These seven irresistible stories run the gamut from simple thievery to murder and espionage. Rumpole recalls three delightful battles with his arch-enemy, the Mad Bull; indulges his knowledge of bloodstains and typewriters; and uses the refined taste of a garage mechanic to discover the reasons for the robbery of a case of wine.
As usual, Rumpole's biting wit and benevolent ideas of justice push the Mad Bull to the edge of retaliation, and it is only through some last minute diplomatic intervention that Rumpole lives to argue another day.
©1987 Advanpress, Ltd (P)1995 Blackstone Audio, Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
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In these witty and comic stories, Horace Rumpole takes on a variety of clients and activities. He, of course, brings each case to a successful end, all the while quoting poetry and drinking claret.
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Wordsworth in a Wig
- By Ian C Robertson on 04-27-13
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Horace Rumpole is back, but this one time he relates his witty tale as he now takes a turn as an Old Bailey prosecutor, one with a penchant for gin and justice. Listen to Rumpole's biting cynicism and dry humor...then become a lifelong fan!
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Rumpole and the Quacks
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Rumpole defends a Pakistani doctor accused of molesting a female patient. Meanwhile his colleague Phyllida suspects her husband, Erskine-Brown, of philandering. To complicate these matters even more, Rumpole is sidetracked by the romantic advances of a middle-aged ex-client.
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One of his best
- By L. Swanson on 06-02-22
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Rumpole and the Blind Tasting
- By: John Mortimer
- Narrated by: Leo McKern
- Length: 1 hr and 25 mins
- Abridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Rumpole again defends a member of the Timson clan on a charge of possession of stolen goods - namely, he is caught with a garage full of expensive wine. Rumpole is concerned that Timson's explanation that he purchased the wine from some unknown individual he met in a pub will not go down well with Mr. Justice Graves, who has heard these stories many times before.
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There’s nothing like Leo McKern reading Rumpole of the Bailey!
- By Guy on 11-06-23
By: John Mortimer
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Rumpole's The Old, Old Story
- By: John Mortimer
- Narrated by: Leo McKern
- Length: 1 hr and 20 mins
- Abridged
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Overall
-
Performance
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Story
After a fight with his wife, Rumpole stays with Erskine-Browns and finds that Portia is prosecuting one of his clients.
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Leo McKern’s characterizations
- By Roger Dornbierer on 04-25-24
By: John Mortimer
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Rumpole and the Man of God
- By: John Mortimer
- Narrated by: Leo McKern
- Length: 1 hr and 12 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Known as “The Bailey Hack” for his chain smoking, the irrepressible Rumpole is engaged to defend a church vicar who is accused of theft and whose only defense for now is “divine intervention”. Meeting up with old friend George Frobisher for after-work drinks, Rumpole can't help but notice that George's female companion looks suspiciously familiar.
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Leo is rum pole!
- By jennifer booth on 07-16-21
By: John Mortimer
-
Rumpole of the Bailey [AudioGo]
- By: John Mortimer
- Narrated by: Robert Hardy
- Length: 7 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In these witty and comic stories, Horace Rumpole takes on a variety of clients and activities. He, of course, brings each case to a successful end, all the while quoting poetry and drinking claret.
-
-
Wordsworth in a Wig
- By Ian C Robertson on 04-27-13
By: John Mortimer
-
Rumpole for the Prosecution
- By: John Mortimer
- Narrated by: Leo McKern
- Length: 1 hr and 32 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Horace Rumpole is back, but this one time he relates his witty tale as he now takes a turn as an Old Bailey prosecutor, one with a penchant for gin and justice. Listen to Rumpole's biting cynicism and dry humor...then become a lifelong fan!
By: John Mortimer
-
Rumpole and the Quacks
- By: John Mortimer
- Narrated by: Leo McKern
- Length: 1 hr and 33 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Rumpole defends a Pakistani doctor accused of molesting a female patient. Meanwhile his colleague Phyllida suspects her husband, Erskine-Brown, of philandering. To complicate these matters even more, Rumpole is sidetracked by the romantic advances of a middle-aged ex-client.
-
-
One of his best
- By L. Swanson on 06-02-22
By: John Mortimer
-
Rumpole and the Blind Tasting
- By: John Mortimer
- Narrated by: Leo McKern
- Length: 1 hr and 25 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Rumpole again defends a member of the Timson clan on a charge of possession of stolen goods - namely, he is caught with a garage full of expensive wine. Rumpole is concerned that Timson's explanation that he purchased the wine from some unknown individual he met in a pub will not go down well with Mr. Justice Graves, who has heard these stories many times before.
-
-
There’s nothing like Leo McKern reading Rumpole of the Bailey!
- By Guy on 11-06-23
By: John Mortimer
-
Rumpole's The Old, Old Story
- By: John Mortimer
- Narrated by: Leo McKern
- Length: 1 hr and 20 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After a fight with his wife, Rumpole stays with Erskine-Browns and finds that Portia is prosecuting one of his clients.
-
-
Leo McKern’s characterizations
- By Roger Dornbierer on 04-25-24
By: John Mortimer
-
Rumpole and the Man of God
- By: John Mortimer
- Narrated by: Leo McKern
- Length: 1 hr and 12 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Known as “The Bailey Hack” for his chain smoking, the irrepressible Rumpole is engaged to defend a church vicar who is accused of theft and whose only defense for now is “divine intervention”. Meeting up with old friend George Frobisher for after-work drinks, Rumpole can't help but notice that George's female companion looks suspiciously familiar.
-
-
Leo is rum pole!
- By jennifer booth on 07-16-21
By: John Mortimer
-
Rumpole a la Carte
- By: John Mortimer
- Narrated by: Leo McKern
- Length: 1 hr and 28 mins
- Abridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Rumpole unenthusiastically accompanies Hilda and her cousin to a very fashionable restaurant. Rumpole hates the ostentatious ambiance and pretentious food with its scant portions. He requests steak and kidney pudding. Jean Pierre O'Higgins, the owner, is insulted that Rumpole would expect him to prepare such low-class dishes. Suddenly, pandemonium strikes when a live mouse jumps out from the serving dish at another table. Unfortunately, the diners are Erskine-Brown with an attractive colleague that he's romancing.
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Leo McKern as John Mortimer’s Rumpole is the best!
- By Guy on 11-27-23
By: John Mortimer
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Rumpole and the Summer of Discontent
- By: John Mortimer
- Narrated by: Leo McKern
- Length: 1 hr and 34 mins
- Abridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
While Rumpole defends a union activist accused of manslaughter, Hilda creates her own union and goes on strike as Rumpole's cook because of his unpredictable and frequent late hours. Rumpole is under pressure to win his case and negotiate a proper labor settlement with “She Who Must Be Obeyed”.
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sickkk
- By Dean on 09-26-18
By: John Mortimer
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Rumpole and the Age for Retirement
- By: John Mortimer
- Narrated by: Leo McKern
- Length: 1 hr and 16 mins
- Abridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Leo McKern is Horace Rumpole! Here he reads about the life and trials of the eccentric barrister, famous for his inestimable knowledge of blood stains, blood groups and forgery by typewriter. Witty and cynical as ever, Horace Rumpole will once again delight listeners with his irreverent behavior and legal triumphs. Will he and his longtime client Percy Timson both be forced to retire, one to sunny climes, the other to jail?
By: John Mortimer
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Rumpole and the Married Lady
- By: John Mortimer
- Narrated by: Leo McKern
- Length: 48 mins
- Abridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Rumpole takes on a divorce case. He represents a Mrs. Thripp, who accuses her husband of unbearable conduct since he has not spoken to her for at least three years and communicates with her in their home only via written notes. But at home, Rumpole finds his wife, Hilda, in a horrid temper, since their son, Nick, has moved to Florida. When his client telephones him at home, Hilda eavesdrops on Rumpole’s conversation and thinks that Rumpole is now in the throes of an affair. Will Rumpole now have to find a divorce lawyer for himself?
By: John Mortimer
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Rumpole and the Old Familiar Faces
- A BBC Radio 4 Full-Cast Dramatisation
- By: John Mortimer
- Narrated by: Full Cast, Desmond Barrit
- Length: 1 hr and 27 mins
- Original Recording
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Christmas Day in a chilly Norfolk village and a trip to the pantomime provide Horace Rumpole with the opportunity to solve a crime involving a duplicitous dame and to indulge in a little seasonal, charitable blackmail.
By: John Mortimer
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Rumpole and the Alternative Society
- By: John Mortimer
- Narrated by: Leo McKern
- Length: 47 mins
- Abridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Our Horace Rumpole, the most traditional of traditionalists, defends a hippie-like schoolteacher on a drugs charge. Quite unexpectedly, he finds himself attracted to her and to her unusual lifestyle.
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A Mortimer/McKern Pleasure
- By G Fred on 10-13-10
By: John Mortimer
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Paradise Postponed
- By: John Mortimer
- Narrated by: Paul Shelley
- Length: 12 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
When Simeon Simcox, a socialist clergyman, leaves his entire fortune not to his family but to the ruthless, social-climbing Tory MP Leslie Titmuss, the Rector's two sons react in very different ways. Henry, novelist and former 'angry young man' turned grumpy old reactionary, decides to fight the will and prove their father was insane. Younger brother Fred, a mild-mannered country doctor, takes a different approach, quietly digging in Simeon's past, only to uncover an entirely unexpected explanation for the legacy.
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Too little plot
- By Diane-in-Colorado on 11-13-20
By: John Mortimer
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Rumpole and the Younger Generation
- By: John Mortimer
- Narrated by: Leo McKern
- Length: 1 hr and 3 mins
- Abridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Rumpole must now defend a young member of the Timson family, an extended clan of petty thieves who are otherwise decent South London rogues. Adding to Rumpole’s anxiety, his own son now appears to be acquiring some of the less respectable Timson family traits.
By: John Mortimer
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Rumpole: On Trial & Going for Silk
- Two BBC Radio 4 dramatisations
- By: John Mortimer
- Narrated by: Timothy West, full cast, Prunella Scales
- Length: 1 hr and 28 mins
- Original Recording
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Timothy West takes on the role of Rumpole in these two thrilling dramas featuring the wily magician of the Old Bailey at his implacable best. Rumpole takes up the cause of young Bertie Timson, whose sole ‘crime’ seems to be playing football in the street. As he endeavours to defend our ancient freedoms, he becomes uneasy about exactly what his wife Hilda is up to in her continuing friendship with a high court judge.
By: John Mortimer
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Under the Hammer
- By: John Mortimer
- Narrated by: Bill Wallis
- Length: 8 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Maggie Perowne is head of Old Masters at Klinsky's auction house in London. Ben Glazier is an art expert. Ben, not as young as he was, is inescapably in love with Maggie, but she has an unfortunate taste for such dubious men as the Hooray Henry in the wine department. Together Ben and Maggie form a crack team that blends integrity and professionalism with a keen eye for uncovering the mysterious circumstances surrounding priceless works of art.
By: John Mortimer
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Clinging to the Wreckage
- By: John Mortimer
- Narrated by: Patrick Tull
- Length: 8 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Creator of the mysteries starring the beloved English barrister, Horace Rumpole, John Mortimer paints a spirited portrait of his own colorful life in his quirky autobiography, Clinging to the Wreckage. With wit and style, he takes you from his austere childhood in a 1930s British boarding school to his successful dual career in law and writing during the 1980s. Raised on his barrister father’s sordid tales of divorce cases, young John Mortimer grew up to view the world with an acute sense for the absurd.
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The Narrator
- By Mark Holmgren on 01-24-22
By: John Mortimer
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Rumpole: The Teenage Werewolf & Other Stories
- Four BBC Radio 4 Dramatisations
- By: John Mortimer
- Narrated by: Timothy West, full cast
- Length: 2 hrs and 55 mins
- Original Recording
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Timothy West takes on the role of Rumpole in this collection of cracking court cases, including Rumpole and the Teenage Werewolf, Rumpole and the Right to Privacy, Truth Makes All Things Plain, and The Past Catches Up with Us All....
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This was WONDERFUL! ❤️
- By R. Perrault on 08-03-20
By: John Mortimer
What listeners say about Rumpole's Last Case
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- jaime silva
- 03-30-22
Witty British humor
the narrator took a little to get used to but overall the story and performance was entertaining.
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Overall
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- Adayam mirsky
- 11-22-23
Delightful
Absolutely amazing narrator. He makes this book to come alive in your ears. The witty text of Rumpole and the amazing twists of the storyline keeps the listener on his toes.
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
- John
- 10-06-21
Rumpole Rules. But Why?
Generally, we (or at least I) tend to favor books that show us worlds we’d want to inhabit (or at least visit) and people we’d like to know. But Rumpole? He’s rude and cantankerous. He’s trapped in an antagonistic marriage. For all his talent he’s a professional failure; in his own words, "a legal hack". And he inhabits a world of cut-and-thrust argument, in and out of court.
So why do I enjoy him so much?
First, the targets of his irreverence (posers, social climbers, reformers) are my pet peeves – and explain his lack of professional success. What he holds dear (truth, poetry, a job well done) are among my favorite things. Worldly-wise rather than world-weary, his cynicism never descends to despair. Rather, he offsets the distasteful atmosphere in which he lives and works with a mental buoyancy that turns these standard elements of tragedy into priceless humor. Of course, he's aided in this by his abiding love for criminal defense, work most of his associates shun.
Finally, most of these stories are good mysteries. Not edge-of-your-seat, whodunnit thrillers, but curious perplexities that get resolved in sometimes unexpected ways in the course of Rumpole’s patient, persistent pursuit of that rarest of commodities, the truth.
I know Frederick Davidson is a lightning rod; people either love him or hate him. I love him. He always brought so much more to the mic.
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4 people found this helpful
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Overall
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Performance
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- Thomas Murray
- 03-14-22
Davidson’s narration stands up to repeated listenings
A consistently engaging set of episodes from Mortimer that intermittently includes incidents and phrases that will cause you to laugh aloud. Davidson is adept in his portrayals of a host of characters and his pacing uniformly involves the listener.
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- Betsy Fowler
- 08-06-22
A clutch of tales about Rumpole of the Bailey
These John Mortimer stories are good fun, and the incomparable narrator Frederick Davidson evokes perfectly the superb TV series. You can easily picture the actor Leo McKern holding forth as Rumpole!
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Overall
- Septimus MacGhilleglas
- 06-24-09
Wonderful story- wrong narrator
The wonderful stories of John Mortimer were brought to life by Leo McKern on Masterpiece Theatre when I was a kid. Timothy West's narration was a perfect imitation of this. Maybe I'm just spoiled but Frederick Davidson just sounds snotty. Not the dry, sarcastic, humourous old curmudgeon I've come to know and love. Still, the stories are wonderful and worth listening to.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall
- Pamela
- 09-13-09
Terrible narrator
Perhaps is it my American Mississippi accent, but I cannot understand one word this narrator is saying. He words sound like they are being belched and his voice like he is in pain. I previously bought "Rumpole on Trial," narrated by Tony Britton, and thought I was purchasing a book of the same quality. No doubt the stories are delightful, but I'll never know if I cannot understand the narrator.
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Overall
- Anonymous User
- 07-01-09
Part of the Book is Missing
Great stories (five stars), but the audio ends in the middle of the last story with the court still in session. Then you hear the words, "Audible hopes you have enjoyed this program." Where is the missing material?
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3 people found this helpful