stphen fry twitter interview 14th september 2010

8/8/2019 Stphen Fry Twitter Interview 14th September 2010

1/5

y That seems a good note to end. Thanks for doing this. All hail Stephen, vanquisher ofBlair, King of Twitter, Queen of the Royal Albert Hall 14 September 2010 16:37:42 via web

y You describe how as an undergrad a big group barged into your rooms and demanded to

"know your secret". What's your secret, Stephen Fry? 14 September 2010 16:34:41 via web

y You're also very brave in the book to describe how you were celibate for ten years. Do you

regret it? What reawakened you? 14 September 2010 16:32:42 via web

y A fight between Melchett and Blackadder for the same woman... why was that episodenever filmed? 14 September 2010 16:31:08 via web

y What would you Tweet to Richard Wagner? 14 September 2010 16:30:11 via web

y You call yourself "90 percent gay". Do you see yourself ever having a relationship with a

woman? If so, which one? 14 September 2010 16:27:47 via web

y You say you always found the gay scene about as arousing as a Tupperware party. Why

was that? 14 September 2010 16:26:36 via web

y If you could send a Tweet to the afterlife, who would it go to and what would it say? 14

September 2010 16:24:25 via web

y Your Royal Albert Hall show is themed on people Tweeting you. What would you tweet to

your 16 year old self? 14 September 2010 16:23:40 via web

y Back to your autobiographies.... Should it be legal today to send children away to boardingschool @ 7 years old, as you were? 14 September 2010 16:21:04 via web

y Speaking of celebrities who think they're Gods, you've beaten Tony Blair off top ofAmazon! Have you read his book? What do u think? 14 September 2010 16:19:03 via web

y Yes. And you say that celebrity culture isn't new - the ancient Greeks did it. Can youexplain? 14 September 2010 16:18:02 via web

y My Tweets are all questions to @stephenfry - to see his live answers, follow him (If you

are one of the 4 people who don't) 14 September 2010 16:17:37 via web

y And why is everyone so down on it? We're all part of it, and we all sneer 14 September

2010 16:17:08 via web

y The book has a bold defence of celebrity culture & fame, against the general sneering.

What do you like about it? 14 September 2010 16:16:34 via web

y U also say theres a paradox in our view of fame: we all know that money& fame do not

bring happiness but we dont want to know it. 14 September 2010 16:14:52 via web

y In the book, you say you always really did ache to be a star. I want to be famous, admired,

stared at, known. Why? 14 September 2010 16:14:01 via web

y Your book is a love letter to the BBC. Do you worry Rupert Murdoch could kill it? 14


y Are you worried by the coalition cuts in spending on the arts, and on mental healthservices, including depression? 14 September 2010 16:08:33 via web

y Or if he turned up to your show at the Royal Albert Hall? (plug, plug...) 14 September2010 16:07:07 via web

y What would you say to him if you were given a Papal audience? 14 September 2010

16:06:51 via weby Let's do some quick-fire topical questions. Do you agree with Hitchens & Dawkins that the

Pope should be arrested 4 covering up abuse? 14 September 2010 16:04:17 via web

y Excuses, excuses... Hah! 14 September 2010 16:03:09 via web

y You are v nice about everyone in the book, except Alexei Sayle & Robbie Coltrane, who

sound monstrous. Are they? 14 September 2010 16:02:10 via web

y I would say 'lol' if I didn't believe that phrase should be punished with immediate death. 14



2/5

y I've seen the pictures... 14 September 2010 16:01:29 via web

y Hah! I KNEW it! 14 September 2010 16:01:22 via web

y Speaking of honesty... you say you've never fancied Hugh Laurie. Come on Stephen, you

can tell me... 14 September 2010 16:00:25 via web

y In fact, lots of people find you attractive. You must realise that. 14 September 2010

15:58:34 via web

y You describe yourself as ugly constantly in the book. Do you see now thats a symptom

of depression, not an objective fact? 14 September 2010 15:58:04 via web

y It's a tough question, I know. You're very brave and honest about it in the book. 14September 2010 15:57:14 via web

y Speaking of jelly... The book starts with u addicted to one white powder, sugar, and endswith u addicted to another, cocaine. Is that fair? 14 September 2010 15:56:39 via web

y You must need assurance too. Your new book is v brave & exposing. What part are you

most nervous about people reading? 4:54 PM Sep 14th via web

y Can we be too connected? Is there a downside? Do you agree with people who say Twitter

is crippling our attention spans? 4:53 PM Sep 14th via web

y What would you Tweet to Oscar Wilde, if I couldve smuggled an i-Phone into Reading

Gaol? 4:50 PM Sep 14th via weby Thanks for doing this Stephen. We meet in your digital Kingdom. Youre a great

evangelist for Twitter. Why? 4:46 PM Sep 14th via web

y Well thanks so much, J. Sorry to all who wonder what I've been up to.It's been a

twinterview with @johannhari101. Sorry about your timelines 14 September 2010 16:37:55

via Twitter for iPad

y Golly. My secret is that I have never thought there is a secret to anything in life. Passion.

Love. Drive. Work. Work. Work. Dull but true. 14 September 2010 16:36:08 via Twitter foriPad

y Celibacy is just one of things that the Mozzer and I have in common.... 14 September 201016:34:34 via Twitter for iPad

y I don't regret the celibacy no. I regret little in my life. I think the Cell Mates incident(walking out of a play) focussed me out of it. 14 September 2010 16:33:42 via Twitter for

iPad

y Two more questions, young @johannhari101, then I fear i must go... x 14 September 201016:32:34 via Twitter for iPad

y Haha! Melchie would've one. Simply by being louder. Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah 14 September2010 16:31:50 via Twitter for iPad


3/5

y I'd tweet him to abandon his hideous anti-semitism. Warn him that it would lose himadmirers and stain his reputation.And would lead to evil 14 September 2010 16:30:52 via

Twitter for iPad

y Ha! In the book I do mention two women in my life I could have ... you know ... gone

further with. Rowan A married one of them, curse him... 14 September 2010 16:28:50 viaTwitter for iPad

y Mind you Tupperware parties can be quite hot... 14 September 2010 16:27:49 via Twitterfor iPad

y I was never aroused by Clones. By muscle vests. By disco or dance music. By staring eyes

and forbidding glances. Made me v unhappy & scared. 14 September 2010 16:27:29 via

Twitter for iPad

y "Here lies one who tried to restrict his utterances to 140 characters but despite his best

efforts he often got carried away and failed to f14 September 2010 16:26:36 via Twitter for

iPad

y A tweet to the afterlife? Isn't that what epitaphs on tombstones are? 14 September 2010

16:25:48 via Twitter for iPad

y Golly. I'd tweet myself to stop feeling sorry myself I suppose. But my 16 yr old self

wouldn't listen. He'd carry on being a mooncalf ... 14 September 2010 16:25:12 via Twitterfor iPad

y Yes, in answer to your question, there are still some good seats in the Albert Hall left for

Sept 23rd I think... but they're going! 14 September 2010 16:24:19 via Twitter for iPad

y It certainly shouldn't be illegal. I didn't mind particularly. I never doubted my parents' love

for me, boarding school or not. 14 September 2010 16:22:22 via Twitter for iPad

y I started to read his book, but it made me feel a bit unwell. The weird matey jostling with

the alpha male I find, well, nauseating, TBH 14 September 2010 16:21:22 via Twitter for

iPad

y I did tweet earlier that being No 1 on Amazon meant so much more because it knocked

him off that posish. Wrong of me, praps, but still, eh? 14 September 2010 16:20:41 via

Twitter for iPad

y As one who used, in the opposition days, to write bits of speeches for Blair, I can't say I'mpleased at how he turned out! 14 September 2010 16:20:10 via Twitter for iPad

y Oops. I used the fuck word. Sorry. 14 September 2010 16:19:15 via Twitter for iPad

y I am the reason the world is so fucked up ... if we could all say and mean that the world

wouldn't be fucked up... 14 September 2010 16:18:59 via Twitter for iPad

y Exactly. There's no hypocrite like someone who uses the word "hypocrite" - and I include

myself in that. 2 many think others are the problem 14 September 2010 16:18:28 via Twitterfor iPad

y It's not that i like celebrity culture so much that i dislike sneering or people not thinkingthings thru. I like to think against the flow 14 September 2010 16:17:27 via Twitter for iPad

y Yes, I think that paradox is true. We all *say* money and fame are trashy and don't

guarantee happiness, but we all refuse really to know it 14 September 2010 16:16:04 viaTwitter for iPad

y I wish I knew, Johann! Cheapness, hollow whorish inadequacy? It's silly and wrong, but Ihad to admit it! 14 September 2010 16:14:57 via Twitter for iPad

y - to justify any amount of assaulting it (Sorry I'm cheating by going over the twitter

length!) x 14 September 2010 16:13:11 via Twitter for iPad

y I worry that the BBC will kill itself in its hurry to placate its enemies in the media. Justbecause "we pay" for the BBC it seems to 14 September 2010 16:12:47 via Twitter for iPad


4/5

y (we're not hash-tagging or including each other's twitter IDs to save space - sorry if it looksincomprehensible to you!) 14 September 2010 16:12:05 via Twitter for iPad

y -compared to other fields, but so as to look "fair" cuts are made that will devastate and

demoralise for a generation. It's very sad. 14 September 2010 16:11:19 via Twitter for iPad

y Very worried by those cuts, yes. The smallest cuts in arts and mental health can have the

hugest impact. It's chicken feed compared to - 14 September 2010 16:10:50 via Twitter for

iPady (Just to let you know that these seeming random tweets are in fact answers to Qs put to me

by @johannhari101 for The Standard) 14 September 2010 16:10:11 via Twitter for iPad

y My show at the Albert Hall, you say? On 20th, 21st and 23rd of Sept. That one. His

Holiness is welcome to come, but he must behave himself. 14 September 2010 16:09:17 via

Twitter for iPad

y I'd want him to understand the real harm he does in vilifying gay love & covering up the

child rape committed by his underlings. 4 starters. 14 September 2010 16:08:15 via Twitterfor iPad

y Not necessarily. I do not think he should be allowed to travel in the guise of a "head of

state" however. 14 September 2010 16:05:55 via Twitter for iPad

y

And as I say in the book, I get on v well with Robbie. 14 September 2010 16:04:55 viaTwitter for iPad

y Oh golly. Am I that bad about them? They're not monstrous at all. Capable of it in the past,

but everyone's redeemable. A.S. much nicer now 5:04 PM Sep 14th via Twitter for iPad

y Be gentle with lol katz and the odd new jargons, patois and formulations that arise from the

net. Some of them are lovely & shd be valued x 5:03 PM Sep 14th via Twitter for iPad

y Oh no. You thought the *blush* etc referred to Hugh! No, it was in response to your "ppl

find you attractive" tweet! *help!* crossed wires 5:02 PM Sep 14th via Twitter for iPad

y It is a fortunate truth. I do recognise that he is very handsome and I know that many menand women do lust after him. Happily not I. True! 5:01 PM Sep 14th via Twitter for iPad

y *blush* *simper* *giggle* *nervously makes circles in the carpet with the pointed end of

his shoes* *shuffles* *giggles* etc. 5:00 PM Sep 14th via Twitter for iPad

y Well I do know there are people who disagree with my own view of my physicalappearance, and I know how annoying/pathological I've been! 5:00 PM Sep 14th via Twitter

for iPad

y Nice of you to say brave, but for some reason I've always found it easy to be honest in

print. Less easy in real life, unfortunately... 4:58 PM Sep 14th via Twitter for iPad

y But I suspect we're all a little like that... no? 4:57 PM Sep 14th via Twitter for iPad

y Those two addictions are the (literal) bookends. Part of the book is about my hatred of my

physical self and yet my need to placate it. 4:57 PM Sep 14th via Twitter for iPad

y Gosh. I think I'm most nervous about revealing how nervous I have always been. Ppl thin_-

k me calm, confident, poised. Inside I'm a jelly ... 4:55 PM Sep 14th via Twitter for iPad

y Steven Pinker wrote a very good article some weeks ago lambasting those who claimed,

without evidence, that social media dumbs down... 4:55 PM Sep 14th via Twitter for iPady I don't agree Twitter is making us dumber: that's what they said of the novel. Attentionspans? Well, I've yet to see the empirical evidence 4:54 PM Sep 14th via Twitter for iPad

y I'd have tried to assure Oscar that he would be remembered and venerated long into the

future. That his suffering was somehow worthwhile. 4:52 PM Sep 14th via Twitter for iPad

y I'm an evangelist for twitter, Jonathan, because I'm a whore for anything new. They don'tall turn out as well as Twitter tho ... 4:49 PM Sep 14th via Twitter for iPad


5/5

y For the next 45 minutes I'm going to be interviewed by @johannhari101 for the Evening

Standard. Follow him to see the questions. x 4:46 PM Sep 14th via Twitter for iPad

stphen fry twitter interview 14th september 2010

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