Last Tango stars Anne Reid and Derek Jacobi are in complete harmony – both on and off screen Pasada: a moment in the Argentine tango that provides an opportunity for the lady to add flourishes of her own, and where “a considerate leader will give her time to perform if she wishes”. This perfectly describes …
Idris Elba is renowned for playing tough guys – but he’s happy to show his cuddly side. There’s a sudden quickening in the atmosphere of the hotel lobby when he arrives, tall and striding, surrounded by enough people to form a modest entourage, and soon after I’m in a small room with him and he’s …
Anne Robinson is hosting a special edition of Weakest Link for Children in Need – but is she still the Queen of Mean? As is to be expected from a broadcaster worth an estimated £50 million, Anne Robinson lives in a smart part of central London in an attractive and substantial Georgian house. The beginning …
Forget being a queen, Rupert Everett – who was once the only gay (yeah, right) in the village of Hollywood – wants to be the Queen. “I am very into the Queen,” he says, several times. “I adore her because she’s me.” We will return, as we often do in our encounter, to Her Maj anon. We …
There may be a famous straight man in Britain who is camper than our Hombre of Homewares, Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen – but I somehow doubt it. He can be archly camp to the point of bitchiness. “It’s really important to evolve your mojo as you go on – otherwise you end up ossified, like Valentino’s hair – which is almost …
Mel and Sue – how their names trip off the tongue mellifluously – have been bosom buddies for coming on three decades. They are the winning court jesters who have cleaved themselves to the affections of the nation, with the rise and rise of Bake Off. It’s a measure of the show’s success that there …
There’s so much sex appeal in this otherwise boring room in Pinewood Studios it could make the walls vibrate. At one end of the table is Ludo Lefebvre – all Gallic smoulder and shrug, arms densely tattooed, like a Maori warrior, from wrist to bicep. At the other, Anthony Bourdain, with a drawl like a …
Could Heston Blumenthal get any more bonkers, I asked myself last time we met, five years ago – and the answer, based on this most recent encounter, has to be a resounding “Yes!” His creative thought process sounds like a stream of consciousness fuelled by industrial quantities of whatever Hunter S Thompson was on. His …
As Live at the Apollo returns tonight for a new series, read Ginny Dougary’s interview with host Eddie Izzard in which he talks about his ambitions to enter politics, learn more languages, run more marathons and start a family. The lights cascade down in neon green and flashing blue, the electronic music pounds to a …
David Walliams and I are sitting opposite one another on benches round a long table in a school refectory in north London. Behind him is a counter and a sign on the wall, “I ❤ TUCK SHOP”, where the T has been subtly altered to mean something quite different. Walliams swivels round to have a …