Thanks for the Update Mr Fry

Stephen Fry in Look Look by Michael Frayn 1990 (photo:  Ariel J Friedlander)

For those of us who were concerned by the announcement that Mr Stephen Fry was planning to quit these shores for a California dream after having had enough (again) of Twitter trolls, I am pleased to share a message from his blog yesterday:

Don’t Part Me From My Porage Oats

• 17th FEBRUARY 2016
• STEPHEN FRY

Yesterday and today I have been bombarded by texts and emails asking me why I am leaving Britain to go in live in America. This caught me not a little by surprise, since I have no plans at all to swap the UK for the US.

Hurrah.

Betrayed!

If there was one person in the world that I was pretty sure would never be seduced by the world of fitness, it was my hero Stephen Fry. Long has he mocked the svelte and the running. Now, the Daily M announces that not only is he a convert to the religion of exercise, but he has lost 6 stone in 6 months (a stone = 14 lbs). How could he do this to us? Look at this picture of the new Stephen:


He looks gorgeous! grumble grumble congrats grumble whine grumble

I Love Stephen Fry

It is entirely possible, I believe, that Stephen Fry is the cleverest person in my generation. I enjoy almost everything that he presents to his public, whether travelling around the USA in a London taxi (strangely, though, one with left-hand drive), or interviewing bipolar celebrities. There were a couple of podcasts that went on a bit too long, but otherwise I just love him.

I have not been moved to tears, however, until reading his article last week "Stephen Fry's letter to himself: Dearest absurd child". When he was 16, he wrote a letter to his adult self, and in this piece he replies to that letter. You may read the whole of it here. I believe it is an edited edition of a previous article, but I found it in the Guardian on Thursday. Anyway, read this at least:

" I finally know now, as I easily knew then, that the most important thing is love. It doesn't matter in the slightest whether that love is for someone of your own sex or not. Gay issues are important and I shall come to them in a moment, but they shrivel like a salted snail when compared to the towering question of love. Gay people sometimes believe (to this very day, would you credit it, young Stephen?) that the preponderance of obstacles and terrors they encounter in their lives and relationships is intimately connected with the fact of their being gay. As it happens at least 90% of their problems are to do with love and love alone: the lack of it, the denial of it, the inequality of it, the missed reciprocity in it, the horrors and heartaches of it. Love cold, love hot, love fresh, love stale, love scorned, love missed, love denied, love betrayed ... the great joke of sexuality is that these problems bedevil straight people just as much as gay. The 10% of extra suffering and complexity that uniquely confronts the gay person is certainly not incidental or trifling, but it must be understood that love comes first. This is tough for straight people to work out."

In this article he is not just clever, he is real. I am pretty close to adoring him :-)

A Pangolin

Lovely Mr. Stephen Fry just posted this picture on his Twitter feed. I'd never heard of this animal before. Now I have. For the rest of you, here is a wiki explanation:

"Pangolins (pronounced /ˈpæŋgəlɪn/) or scaly anteaters or Trenggiling are mammals in the order Pholidota. There is only one extant family (Manidae) and one genus (Manis) of pangolins, comprising eight species. There are also a number of extinct taxa. Pangolins have large keratin scales covering their skin and are the only mammals with this adaptation.[2] They are found in tropical regions of Africa and Asia. The name "pangolin" derives from the Malay word pengguling ("something that rolls up"). Pangolins are nocturnal animals, using their well-developed sense of smell to find insects. The long-tailed pangolin is also active by day. Pangolins spend most of the daytime sleeping, curled up into a ball.[3]"

Am trying hard to resist an aaaaahhhhh how sweet. Nope. Can't resist it. Aaaaahhhhh, what a cutie :-)

red nose day is ear

i have loved gary winston lineker since he was a spotty young thing at leicester city with his floppy hair and adorable nose. of course, when i say i love him, i mean in a rosie o'donnell loves tom cruise kind of way except without the celebrity dissing or scientology or kabbalah.

nu - send money!