Robert Llewellyn
Robert Llewellyn at Dimension Jump XI (2004)
Born	Robert Llewellyn (1956-03-10) 10 March 1956 (age 56) Northampton, Northamptonshire, England
Occupation	Actor
Spouse	Judy Pascoe

Robert Llewellyn (born 10 March 1956, in Northampton, Northamptonshire, England) is an English actor, presenter and writer. He is best known as the mechanoid Kryten in the hit sitcom Red Dwarf, and for his role as presenter of Scrapheap Challenge.

Early career[link]

Llewellyn's first foray into the world of show business started out as a hobby, organising a few amateur cabaret evenings in a riverside warehouse overlooking Tower Bridge in London. The shows were a great success and he eventually helped form an alternative comedy theatre group called the Joeys.^[1] Within six months he had stopped working as a shoemaker and started performing professionally with the group alongside Bernie Evans, Nigel Ordish and Graham Allum. The group toured the UK and Europe in the early 1980s with an initial idea of exploring sexual politics between men^[2]. Llewellyn wrote much of the material, and also began writing novels. The group split in 1985, having toured for years and done thousands of shows.

Red Dwarf[link]

Llewellyn's involvement with Red Dwarf came about as a result of his appearance at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, performing in his comedy, Mammon, Robot Born Of Woman. The story is about a robot who, as he becomes more human, begins to behave increasingly badly. This was seen by Paul Jackson, producer of Red Dwarf, and he was invited to audition for the role of Kryten.

Llewellyn joined the cast of Red Dwarf in 1989 at the start of Series 3 and continued in the role until the end of Series 8 in 1999. His skills as a physical performer encouraged Rob Grant and Doug Naylor to write him additional characters for the series, namely Jim Reaper ("The Last Day"), The Data Doctor ("Back in the Red"), Human Kryten ("DNA"), Bongo ("Dimension Jump") and Able ("Beyond A Joke"). Llewellyn co-wrote the Red Dwarf Series VII episode "Beyond A Joke" with Doug Naylor.

He was also the only British cast member originally to participate in the American version of Red Dwarf, though other actors such as Craig Charles and Chris Barrie were also approached to reprise their roles.

He reprised his role, along with the rest of the cast, in the 2009 three-part story Red Dwarf: Back to Earth and in the upcoming 2012 Series X.

Other TV work[link]

Llewellyn has presented a number of programmes for UK television. His first outing as a presenter was on Scrapheap Challenge produced by Channel 4; the series sees teams of engineers competing to build machines to complete a given task from materials scavenged from a scrapheap. His other presenting roles include a version of Discovery Channel's How Do They Do It? and Hollywood Science, the latter being a joint production between the BBC and the Open University.

In 1992, Llewellyn appeared in the third episode of series 2 of Bottom, as a wounded Falklands conflict veteran named Mr. N. Stiles.

Llewellyn's project it2i2, was released on DVD in March 2006. Since 2006 he has had a YouTube video blog called "Llewtube". His latest book "Sold Out: How I Survived a Year of Not Shopping" – based on his YouTube series "Making Do" – was published in October 2008.

On 10 February 2009 Llewellyn was featured as a guest on the popular technology related podcast MacBreak Weekly with Leo Laporte (episode 127).

Recently, Llewellyn has starred in the CBBC show MI High as the Prime Minister, and become the presenter of Top Trumps.

Llewellyn reviewed the world of science and technology in his popular Machine of the Week report (The MoWer).^[3]

Llewellyn also provides the voice of News Anchor Perry Flynn for PlayStation Home TV, a programme that started in December 2009 and aires in the Home Theatre of the EU Version of PlayStation Home, which is a 3D community for PlayStation 3.

Llewellyn has worked as a voice actor, providing the voices of the alien creatures in Skywhales (1983), the voice of Feeble for The Feeble Files (1997), and the perplexed 'Gryphon' in the film MirrorMask (2005). He has described himself as "very much a 'don't want to do it now' kind of person" (Dwarfing USA documentary, Red Dwarf V DVD).

In November 2010, the Carpool series began broadcasting on UKTV channel, Dave, before having a months hiatus for Christmas and New Year, it then returned in January 2011. It is a spin-off from his web series, Carpool. On 4 January 2011, he appeared on "Celebrity Mastermind" answering questions on the specialist subject of electric cars.

Work as a writer[link]

Llewellyn is also the author of ten books, including Sold Out! and Therapy And How To Avoid It with Nigel Planer and four novels:

• The Man On Platform 5 (1998);
• Punchbag (1999);
• Sudden Wealth (2000);
• Brother Nature (2001).

Personal life[link]

Llewellyn is married to the novelist Judy Pascoe, author of Our Father Who Art in The Tree, who starred alongside him in the Red Dwarf episode "Camille", playing female android Camille.

Llewellyn, who is of Anglo-Welsh ancestry, learnt to drive at age 11 (having been taught by his older brother in a go-kart); formerly a "petrol-head", he is now an electric car advocate. As well as being frequently interviewed on the subject, he has a related video blog called Fully Charged.^[4]

On the evening of 1 July 2009 while Llewellyn was delivering Carpool footage to his editor, another vehicle hit him side on at a junction in Gloucestershire, writing off his Prius and rendering him unconscious for around ten minutes. The force of the impact was such that it bent his laptop "into a banana shape".

Llewellyn praised the honesty of the other driver for accepting full liability for the incident and for the hospital, police and other services for helping him. He also gave special praise to his "beloved Prius" for protecting him from the impact. He suffered minor whiplash and dizzy spells but escaped more serious injury.^[5]

Publications[link]

Books[link]

• The Man in the Rubber Mask - Llewellyn's personal account of his career with Red Dwarf. Penguin Books Ltd (16 May 1994), ISBN 0-14-023575-2. Currently being recorded as an audiobook.
• Brother Nature - Novel
• Sudden Wealth - Novel
• The Man on Platform 5 - A modern gender-reversed re-telling of Pygmalion of which the film rights were sold^[6]
• Punchbag
• Thin he was and filthy haired - Memoir
• Behind the Scenes at Scrapheap challenge^[7]
• Sold Out - How I survived a year of not shopping - Non-fiction
• Therapy and How to Avoid it. (with Nigel Planer)
• The Reconstructed Heart: How to Spot the Difference Between a Normal Man and One Who Does the Housework, is Great in Bed and Doesn't Get All Iffy When You Mention Words Like Love and Commitment

Video podcasts[link]

• Carpool - a regular video podcast, released every Friday, in which Llewellyn interviews other celebrities while driving them somewhere in a car. Some of the shows have appeared on the UK TV channel Dave as well as still appearing online after broadcast.^[8]
• Wet Liberal Whenever - an occasional video podcast where he does a monologue about subjects he is impassioned about, previously known as Wet Liberal Weekly
• Fully Charged - a video podcast on alternative technology vehicles, previously known as Gearless^[9][10]

Other[link]

• Woman Wizard - DVD of his one-man show
• Blue Helmet - on-line science-fiction comedy novel

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Robert Llewellyn

• Official Robert Llewellyn website
• Robert Llewellyn Personal Website
• Official Red Dwarf website
• Official Robert Llewellyn YouTube
• Fully Charged Show on YouTube
• Robert Llewellyn at the Internet Movie Database
• Robert Llewellyn on Myspace
• MacBreak Weekly 105: Don't Lick The Glass

Stephen Fry
Fry in Happy Birthday to GNU (2008)
Born	Stephen John Fry (1957-08-24) 24 August 1957 (age 54) Hampstead, London, England
Nationality	British
Alma mater	Queens' College, Cambridge
Occupation	Actor, comedian, author, journalist, broadcaster, film director
Years active	1981–present
Influenced by	Oscar Wilde, P. G. Wodehouse, Evelyn Waugh, Hugh Laurie, Emma Thompson, Douglas Adams, Rowan Atkinson, Christopher Hitchens
Title	President of Mind (2011–present)[1] Honorary Kentucky Colonel[2][3] Patron of the Lip Theatre Company Patron of the Norwich Playhouse theatre Vice President of the Noël Coward Society Honorary fellow of Queens' College, Cambridge Honorary fellow of Cardiff University Honorary president of the Cambridge University Quiz Society Rector of the University of Dundee (1992–1998)
Religion	None (atheist)
Partner	Daniel Cohen (1995–2010)
Parents	Alan John Fry Marianne Eve Fry (née Newman)
Signature
Website
www.stephenfry.com

Stephen John Fry (born 24 August 1957) is an English^[4][5] actor, screenwriter, author, playwright, journalist, poet, comedian, television presenter, film director, and a director of Norwich City Football Club.^[6]

After a troubled childhood and adolescence, during which he was expelled from a number of schools and eventually spent three months in prison for credit card fraud, he was able to secure a place at Queens' College, Cambridge, where he studied English Literature.

He first came to public attention in the 1981 Cambridge Footlights Revue presentation "The Cellar Tapes", which also included Hugh Laurie, Emma Thompson and Tony Slattery. With Hugh Laurie, as the comedy double act Fry and Laurie, he co-wrote and co-starred in A Bit of Fry & Laurie, and took the role of Jeeves (with Laurie playing Wooster) in Jeeves and Wooster.

As an actor, Fry played the lead in the film Wilde, was Melchett in the BBC television series Blackadder, starred as the title character Peter Kingdom in the ITV series Kingdom, has a recurring guest role as Dr. Gordon Wyatt on the Fox crime series Bones and appeared as rogue TV host Gordon Deitrich in the dystopian thriller V For Vendetta. He has also written and presented several documentary series including the 2008 television series Stephen Fry in America, which saw him travelling across all 50 US states. Since 2003 he has been the host of the quiz show QI.

As well as his work in television, Fry has contributed columns and articles for newspapers and magazines, and has written four novels and two volumes of autobiography, Moab Is My Washpot and The Fry Chronicles. He also appears frequently on BBC Radio 4, starring in the comedy series Absolute Power, being a frequent guest on panel games such as Just a Minute, and acting as chairman for I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue, where he was one of a trio of hosts who succeeded the late Humphrey Lyttelton. Fry is also known in the UK for his audiobook recordings, particularly as reader for all seven Harry Potter novels.

Early life[link]

Fry, upper right, rehearsing a student production of A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Norfolk College of Arts and Technology, 1975

Fry was born in Hampstead, London, on 24 August 1957, the son of Marianne Eve Fry (née Newman) and Alan John Fry, who was an English physicist and inventor.^[7][8] His maternal grandparents, Martin and Rosa Neumann,^[8] were Hungarian Jewish immigrants from Šurany, which is now in Slovakia.^[8][9][10] His mother's aunt and cousins died in Auschwitz.^[8] Fry grew up in the village of Booton near Reepham, Norfolk, having moved from Chesham, Buckinghamshire at an early age.^[11]

Fry briefly attended Cawston Primary School, Cawston, Norfolk^[12] before going on to Stouts Hill Preparatory School at the age of seven, and then to Uppingham School, Rutland, where he joined Fircroft house and was described as a "near-asthmatic genius".^[13] He was expelled from Uppingham when he was 15, and subsequently from the Paston School.

At 17, after leaving Norfolk College of Arts and Technology, Fry absconded with a credit card stolen from a family friend, was arrested in Swindon, and as a result spent three months in Pucklechurch Prison on remand.^[14]

Following his release he resumed his education at City College Norwich, promising administrators that he would study rigorously to sit the Cambridge entrance exams. He scored well enough to gain a scholarship to Queens' College, Cambridge. At Cambridge, Fry joined the Cambridge Footlights, appeared on University Challenge, and gained a degree in English literature.^[15] It was at the Footlights that Fry met his future comedy collaborator Hugh Laurie.

Career[link]

Television[link]

Comedy[link]

Fry signing autographs at the Apple Store, Regent Street, London on 3 February 2009

Fry's career in television began with the 1982 broadcasting of The Cellar Tapes, the 1981 Cambridge Footlights Revue which was written by Fry, Hugh Laurie, Emma Thompson and Tony Slattery. The revue caught the attention of Granada Television, who, keen to replicate the success of the BBC's Not the Nine O'Clock News, hired Fry, Laurie and Thompson to star alongside Ben Elton in There's Nothing to Worry About!. A second series, re-titled Alfresco, was broadcast in 1983 and a third in 1984; it established Fry and Laurie's reputation as a comedy double act. In 1983, the BBC offered them their own show, which became The Crystal Cube, a mixture of science fiction and mockumentary that was axed after the first episode. Undeterred, Fry and Laurie appeared in an episode of The Young Ones in 1984, and Fry in Ben Elton's 1985 series, Happy Families. In 1986 and 1987 Fry and Laurie also performed sketches on the LWT/Channel 4 show Saturday Live.

Forgiving Fry and Laurie for The Crystal Cube, the BBC commissioned a sketch show in 1986 that was to become A Bit of Fry & Laurie. The programme ran for 26 episodes spanning four series between 1986 and 1995, and was very successful. During this time Fry starred in Blackadder II as Lord Melchett, made a guest appearance in Blackadder the Third as the Duke of Wellington, then returned to a starring role in Blackadder Goes Forth as General Melchett. In the 1988 television special Blackadder's Christmas Carol he played the roles of Lord Melchett and Lord Frondo.

Between 1990 and 1993, Fry starred as Jeeves (alongside Hugh Laurie's Bertie Wooster) in Jeeves and Wooster, 23 hour-long adaptations of P.G. Wodehouse's novels and short stories.

Towards the end of 2003, Fry starred alongside John Bird in the television adaptation of Absolute Power, previously a radio series on BBC Radio 4.

In 2010 Fry took part in a Christmas series of Short Films called 'Little Crackers'. Fry's short is based on a story from his childhood at school.^[16] He appeared as the Christian God in 2011's Holy Flying Circus.

Drama[link]

Fry has appeared in a number of BBC adaptations of plays and books, including a 1992 adaptation of the Simon Gray play The Common Pursuit (Fry had previously appeared in the West End stage production); a 1998 Malcolm Bradbury adaptation of the Mark Tavener novel, In the Red, with Fry taking the part of the Controller of BBC Radio 2; and in 2000 Fry took the role of Professor Bellgrove in the BBC serial Gormenghast which were adapted from the first two novels of Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast series. In 2011, Fry portrayed Professor Mildeye in the BBC adaption of Mary Norton's 1952 novel The Borrowers.

Fry narrates the English language version of the Spanish children's animated series Pocoyo.^[17]

From 2007 to 2009, Fry played the lead role in (and was executive producer for) the legal drama Kingdom, which ran for three series on ITV1.^[18] He has also taken up a recurring guest role as psychiatrist Dr. Gordon Wyatt in the popular American drama Bones.

In 2010, having learned some Irish for the role,^[19] he filmed a cameo role in Ros na Rún, an Irish language soap opera broadcast in Ireland, Scotland and the United States.^[20][21][22]

Documentaries and other factual programmes[link]

Fry made his first foray into documentary-making with the Emmy Award-winning The Secret Life of the Manic Depressive in 2006; also in 2006, he appeared in the genealogy series Who Do You Think You Are?, tracing his maternal family tree to investigate his Jewish ancestry.^[23] Fry narrated The Story of Light Entertainment, which was shown from July–September 2006.^[24][25] In 2007 he presented a documentary on the subject of HIV and AIDS, HIV and Me.^[26]

On 7 May 2008, Fry gave a speech as part of a series of BBC lectures on the future of public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom,^[27] which he later recorded for a podcast.^[28]

His six-part travel series Stephen Fry in America began on BBC One in October 2008 and saw him travel to each of the 50 US states;^[29] in the same year he narrated the nature documentaries Spectacled Bears: Shadow of the Forest for the BBC Natural World series.^[30]

In the 2009 television series Last Chance to See, Fry and zoologist Mark Carwardine sought out endangered species, some of which had been featured in Douglas Adams' and Carwardine's 1990 book and radio series of the same name^[31] Also in 2009, Fry briefly hosted CBBC series Horrible Histories, an educational TV show for school children.

In August 2011 Stephen Fry's 100 Greatest Gadgets was shown on Channel 4 as one of the 100 Greatest strand.^[32] His choice for the greatest gadget was the cigarette lighter which he described as "fire with a flick of the fingers".^[32]

In September 2011 Fry's Planet Word, a five-part documentary about language, aired on BBC HD and BBC Two.^[33][34]

[edit] QI

In 2003, Fry began hosting QI (Quite Interesting), a British comedy panel game television quiz show. QI was created and co-produced by John Lloyd, and features permanent panellist Alan Davies. QI has the highest viewing figures for any show on BBC Four and UKTV G2 (now Dave).^[35][36] In 2006, Fry won the Rose d'Or award for "Best Game Show Host" for his work on the series.^[37]

Film[link]

Having made his film debut in the 1985 film The Good Father, Fry had a brief appearance in A Fish Called Wanda (in which he is knocked out by Kevin Kline, who is posing as an airport security man) and then appeared in the lead role for Kenneth Branagh's Peter's Friends in 1992. In the 1994 romantic comedy film I.Q., he played the role of James Moreland.^[38] Portraying Oscar Wilde (of whom he had been a fan since the age of 13) in the 1997 film Wilde, he fulfilled to critical acclaim a role that he has said he was "born to play". It also earned him a nomination for Best Actor – Drama in the 1998 Golden Globe Award. A year later, Fry starred in David Yates' small independent film The Tichborne Claimant, and in 2001 he played the detective in Robert Altman's period costume drama, Gosford Park. In the same year he also appeared in the Dutch film The Discovery of Heaven, directed by Jeroen Krabbé and based on the novel by Harry Mulisch.

In 2003, Fry made his directorial debut with Bright Young Things, adapted by himself from Evelyn Waugh's Vile Bodies. In 2001, he began hosting the BAFTA Film Awards, a role from which he stepped down in 2006.^[39] Later that same year, he wrote the English libretto and dialogue for Kenneth Branagh's film adaptation of The Magic Flute.

Fry continues to make regular film appearances, notably in treatments of literary cult classics. He portrayed Maurice Woodruff in The Life and Death of Peter Sellers, served as narrator in the 2005 film version of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and in 2005 he appeared in both A Cock and Bull Story, based on Tristram Shandy, and as a non-conforming TV Presenter who challenges the fascist state in V for Vendetta.^[40][41] In 2006, he played the role of gadget-master Smithers in Stormbreaker, and in 2007 he appeared as himself hosting a quiz in St Trinian's. In 2007, Fry wrote a script for a remake of The Dam Busters for director Peter Jackson.^[42]

Fry in "Happy Birthday to GNU (2008)"

Fry was offered a role in Valkyrie but was unable to participate.^[43] Fry starred in the Tim Burton version of Alice in Wonderland, as the voice of The Cheshire Cat.^[44] He played Mycroft Holmes in the sequel to Sherlock Holmes directed by Guy Ritchie.^[45] In 2010, Fry provided the voice of Socrates the Lion in the environmental animated film Animals United. He will portray the Master of Lake-town in the 2012 film adaptation of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit.^[46]

Feature filmography[link]

• 1985: The Good Father – Creighton
• 1988: A Fish Called Wanda – Hutchison
• 1992: Peter's Friends – Peter
• 1994: I.Q. – James Moreland
• 1997: Wilde – Oscar Wilde
• 1998: The Tichborne Claimant – Hawkins
• 1999: Whatever Happened to Harold Smith? – Dr.Peter Robinson
• 2001: Gosford Park – Inspector Thompson
• 2001: The Discovery of Heaven – Onno
• 2002: Thunderpants – Sir Antony Silk (Judge)
• 2003: Bright Young Things – Director
• 2004: The Life and Death of Peter Sellers – Maurice Woodruff
• 2005: V for Vendetta – Deitrich
• 2005: The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy – The Narrator (Voice)
• 2006: The Magic Flute – Writer
• 2006: Stormbreaker – Smithers
• 2007: St. Trinian's – Himself
• 2007: Eichmann – Minister Tormer
• 2009: House of Boys – Dr Marsh
• 2010: Alice in Wonderland – Cheshire Cat (Voice)
• 2010: Animals United – Socrates the Lion (Voice)
• 2011: Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows – Mycroft Holmes
• 2012: The Hobbit: There and Back Again – Master of Lake-town

Radio[link]

Fry came to the attention of radio listeners with the 1986 creation of his alter-ego, Donald Trefusis, whose "wireless essays" were broadcast on the BBC Radio 4 programme Loose Ends. In the 1980s he starred as David Lander in four series of the BBC Radio 4 show Delve Special, written by Tony Sarchet, which became the six part Channel 4 series This is David Lander in 1988. In 1988, Fry wrote and presented a six-part comedy series entitled Saturday Night Fry; frequent radio appearances have ensued (notably on panel games Just a Minute and I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue). In 2000, he began starring as Charles Prentiss in the Radio 4 comedy Absolute Power, reprising the role for three further series on radio and two on television. In 2002, Fry voiced Winnie-the-Pooh and was one of the narrators of A.A. Milne's Winnie-the-Pooh and The House at Pooh Corner. He presented a 20-part, two-hour series, The Incomplete and Utter History of Classical Music, a "witty guide" to the genre over the past 1,000 years, on Classic FM.

In 2007, he hosted Current Puns, an exploration of wordplay, and Radio 4: This Is Your Life, to celebrate the radio station's 40th anniversary. He also interviewed Tony Blair as part of a series of podcasts released by 10 Downing Street.^[47]

In February 2008, Fry began presenting podcasts entitled Stephen Fry's Podgrams, in which he recounts his life and recent experiences.^[28] In July 2008, he appeared as himself in I Love Stephen Fry, an Afternoon Play for Radio 4 written by former Fry and Laurie script editor Jon Canter.^[48]

Since August 2008 he has presented Fry's English Delight, a series on BBC Radio 4 about the English language.^[49] As of 2011, it has been running for four series and 15 episodes.

In the summer 2009 series of I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue, Fry was one of a trio of hosts replacing Humphrey Lyttelton (the others being Jack Dee and Rob Brydon).^[50]

In 2012 he appeared as a guest panellist in the BBC Radio 4 comedy panel show Wordaholics.^[51]

Theatre[link]

Fry wrote the play Latin! or Tobacco and Boys for the 1980 Edinburgh Festival, where it won the Fringe First prize.^[52] It had a revival in 2009 at London's Cock Tavern Theatre, directed by Adam Spreadbury-Maher.^[53] The Cellar Tapes, the Footlights Revue of 1981, won the Perrier Comedy Award. In 1984, Fry adapted the hugely successful 1930s musical Me and My Girl for the West End, where it ran for eight years. He was also cast in a lead role in Simon Gray's 1995 play, Cell Mates, which he left three days into the West End run, pleading stage fright. He later recalled the incident as a hypomanic episode in his documentary about bipolar disorder, The Secret Life of the Manic Depressive. In 2007, Fry wrote a Christmas pantomime, Cinderella, which ran at London's Old Vic Theatre.^[54]

Fry is a long-standing fan of the anarchic 1960s British musical comedy group, the Bonzo Dog Band and, particularly, of its eccentric front man, the late Vivian Stanshall. Fry helped to fund an ill-fated 1988 London re-staging of Stanshall's acclaimed Stinkfoot, a Comic Opera, written by Vivian and Ki Longfellow-Stanshall for the Bristol-based Old Profanity Showboat. Fry performed several of Stanshall's numbers as part of the Bonzos' 2006 reunion concert at the London Astoria. He also appears as a shiny New Millennium Bonzo on their post-reunion album, Pour l'Amour des Chiens, on which he recites a recipe for "Salmon Proust", plays a butler in "Hawkeye the Gnu", and voices ads for the fictitious "Fiasco" stores.

Following three one-man shows in Australia, Fry announced a "sort of stand-up" performance at The Royal Albert Hall in London for September 2010.^[55]

Audio books[link]

Stephen Fry has been the reader for the British versions of all of J.K.Rowling's Harry Potter series of audio books. He discussed this project in an interview with J.K. Rowling in 2005.^[56] Fry has also been the reader for Douglas Adams's The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy film tie-in edition. He has also made recordings of his own books, such as The Stars' Tennis Balls and Moab Is My Washpot; and works by Roald Dahl, Michael Bond, A. A. Milne, and Anthony Buckeridge.

Video games[link]

Fry's distinctive voice has been featured in a number of video games, including an appearance as Reaver, a primary antagonist in Lionhead Studios games Fable II and Fable III, and as the narrator in LittleBigPlanet and its sequel on PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable.^[57][58] He also served as narrator on the first four Harry Potter games (Philosopher's Stone, Chamber of Secrets, Prisoner of Azkaban and the Goblet of Fire).

Advertisements[link]

Fry has lent himself and his voice to many advertisements, starting with an appearance as "Count Ivan Skavinsky Skavar" in a 1982 advert for Whitbread Best Bitter. Fry has said in his memoirs that after receiving his payment for this work – £25,000 – he has never subsequently experienced "what one could call serious money troubles".^[59] He has since appeared in adverts for products and companies such as Marks and Spencer, Twinings, Kenco, Vauxhall, Honda, Direct Line, Calpol, Heineken, Alliance & Leicester, After Eights, Trebor, Panama cigars and Orange Mobile.

Literature[link]

Since the publication of his first novel, The Liar (1991), Fry has written three further novels, several non-fiction works and two volumes of autobiography. Making History (1997) is partly set in an alternative universe where Adolf Hitler's father is made infertile and his replacement proves a rather more effective Führer. The book won the Sidewise Award for Alternate History. The Hippopotamus (1994) is about Edward (Ted/Tedward) Wallace and his stay at his old friend Lord Logan's country manor in Norfolk. The Stars' Tennis Balls (2000) is a modern retelling of The Count of Monte Cristo. Fry's book, The Ode Less Travelled: Unlocking the Poet Within, is a guide to writing poetry.

When writing a book review for Tatler, Fry wrote under a nom de plume, Williver Hendry, editor of A Most Peculiar Friendship: The Correspondence of Lord Alfred Douglas and Jack Dempsey, a field close to Fry's heart as an Oscar Wilde enthusiast. Once a columnist in The Listener and The Daily Telegraph, he now writes a weekly technology column in the Saturday edition of The Guardian. His blog attracted more than 300,000 visitors in its first two weeks.^[29]

In May 2009, Fry unveiled The Dongle of Donald Trefusis, an audiobook series following Donald Trefusis (a fictional character from Fry's novel The Liar and from the BBC Radio 4 series Loose Ends), set over 12 episodes.^[60] After its release, it reached No. 1 on the UK Album Chart list.

Fry's use of the word "luvvie" (spelled "lovie" by Fry) in The Guardian on 2 April 1988 is given by the Oxford English Dictionary as the earliest recorded use of the word as a humorous synonym for "actor".^[61]

Football[link]

In August 2010, Fry joined the Board of Directors at Norwich City Football Club. A lifelong fan of "the Canaries" and a regular visitor to Carrow Road, he said on being appointed "Truly this is one of the most exciting days of my life and I am as proud and pleased as I could be."^[6]

Twitter[link]

In October 2008, Fry began posting to the social networking site Twitter,^[62] which he regularly updates.^[63] On 16 May 2009, he celebrated the 500,000-follower mark: "Bless my soul 500k followers. And I love you all. Well, all except that silly one. And that's not you."^[64]

Fry wields a considerable amount of influence through his use of Twitter.^[65][66] He is frequently asked to promote various charities and causes, often inadvertently causing their websites to crash because of the volume of traffic generated by his large number of followers; as Fry notes on his website: "Four thousand hits a second all diving down the pipeline at the same time for minutes on end."^[67] Fry uses his influence to recommend underexposed musicians and authors (who often see large increases in web hits and sales)^[68][69] and to raise awareness of contemporary issues in the world of media and politics, notably the dropping of an injunction against The Guardian^[70][71] and the lambasting of Daily Mail columnist Jan Moir over her article on the death of Boyzone member Stephen Gately.^[72][73]

In October 2009 Fry again sparked debate amongst users when he announced his intention to leave the social networking site after criticism from another user on Twitter. He retracted the intention the next day.^[74] In October 2010, Fry left Twitter for a few days following press criticism of a quote taken from an interview he had given, with a farewell message of "Bye bye". After returning, Fry explained that he had left Twitter to "avoid being sympathised with or told about an article I would otherwise never have got wind of".^[75] In some quarters the general methods Fry uses on Twitter have been criticised.^[76]

In November 2009 Fry's Twitter account reached one million followers. He commemorated the million followers milestone with a humorous video blog in which a 'Step Hen Fry' clone speaks from the year 2034 where MySpace, Facebook and Twitter have combined to form 'Twit on MyFace'.^[77] In November 2010 Fry welcomed his two millionth follower with a blog entry detailing his opinions and experiences of Twitter.^[78] On 11 March 2012, Fry noted his passing of the four million follower mark with a tweet: "Lordy I've breasted the 4 million followers tape. Love you all. Yes even YOU. But let's dedicate today to Douglas Adams's diamond jubilee"^[79]

Acclaim[link]

Stephen Fry visits Nightingale House, London, December 2009

In 1995, Fry was presented with an honorary doctorate from the University of Dundee, which named their main Students' Association bar after his novel The Liar. Fry is a patron of its Lip Theatre Company.^[80] He also served two consecutive terms – 1992 to 1995 and 1995 to 1998 – as the student-elected Rector of the University of Dundee. Such was his popularity, he was unopposed when he sought re-election to office in 1995, and by the time he completed his second term in office he had won the widespread admiration of the University's staff and students.^[81][82] He was awarded the AoC Gold Award in 2004, and was entered into their hall of fame.^[83] Fry was also awarded an honorary degree from Anglia Ruskin University in 2005.^[84][85] He was made honorary president of the Cambridge University Quiz Society and honorary fellow of his alma mater Queens' College, Cambridge. On 13 July 2010, he was made an honorary fellow of Cardiff University^[86] and on 28 January 2011 he was awarded an honorary doctorate at the University of Sussex for his work campaigning for people suffering from mental health problems, bipolar disorder and HIV.^[87]

He is a Patron of the Norwich Playhouse theatre and a Vice President of The Noël Coward Society.^[88] Fry was the last person to be named Pipe Smoker of the Year before the award was discontinued.^[89]

In December 2006 he was ranked sixth for the BBC's Top Living Icon Award,^[90] was featured on The Culture Show, and was voted Most Intelligent Man on Television by readers of Radio Times. The Independent on Sunday Pink List named Fry the second most influential gay person in Britain in May 2007; he had taken the twenty-third position on the list the previous year.^[91] Later the same month he was announced as the 2007 Mind Champion of the Year^[1] in recognition of the success of his documentary The Secret Life of a Manic Depressive in raising awareness of bipolar disorder. Fry was also nominated in "Best Entertainment Performance" for QI and "Best Factual Series" for Secret Life of the Manic Depressive at the 2007 British Academy Television Awards.^[92] That same year, Broadcast magazine listed Fry at number four in its "Hot 100" list of influential on-screen performers, describing him as a polymath and a "national treasure".^[93] He was also granted a lifetime achievement award at the British Comedy Awards on 5 December 2007^[94] and the Special Recognition Award at the National Television Awards on 20 January 2010.^[95]

BBC Four dedicated two nights of programming to Fry on 17 and 18 August 2007, in celebration of his 50th birthday. The first night, comprising programs featuring Fry, began with a sixty-minute documentary entitled Stephen Fry: 50 Not Out. The second night was composed of programs selected by Fry, as well as a 60-minute interview with Mark Lawson and a half-hour special, Stephen Fry: Guilty.^[96] The weekend programming proved such a ratings hit for BBC Four that it was repeated on BBC Two on 16 and 17 September 2007.

In 2011, he was the subject of Molly Lewis's song An Open Letter to Stephen Fry, in which the singer jokingly offers herself as a surrogate mother for his child.^[97] In February 2011, Fry was awarded the Outstanding Lifetime Achievement Award in Cultural Humanism by the Humanist Chaplaincy at Harvard University, the Harvard Secular Society and the American Humanist Association.^[98]

Views on religion[link]

Fry has repeatedly expressed opposition to organised religion and has identified himself as an atheist and humanist, while declaring some sympathy for the ancient Greek belief in capricious gods. In his first autobiography he wrote, "I knew I couldn't believe in God, because I was fundamentally Hellenic in my outlook."^[99] He has accepted that religion can have positive effects, "Sometimes belief means credulity, sometimes an expression of faith and hope which even the most sceptical atheist such as myself cannot but find inspiring."^[100]

In 2009, The Guardian published a letter from Fry addressing his younger self, explaining how his future is soon to unfold, reflecting on the positive progression towards gay acceptance and openness around him, and yet not everywhere, while warning on how "the cruel, hypocritical and loveless hand of religion and absolutism has fallen on the world once more".^[101] Later that year, he and Christopher Hitchens participated in an "Intelligence Squared" debate in which they argued against Ann Widdecombe and Archbishop John Onaiyekan, who supported the view that the Catholic Church was a force for good. Fry and Hitchens argued that the church did more harm than good. Fry attacked the Catholic Church's teachings on sexuality and denounced its wealth.^[102]

In 2010 he was made a Distinguished Supporter of the British Humanist Association, stating: "it is essential to nail one’s colours to the mast as a humanist."^[103] Later that year, Fry, along with 54 other public figures, signed an open letter published in The Guardian, stating their opposition to Pope Benedict XVI's visit to the United Kingdom being a state visit.^[104]

On 22 February 2011, Fry was presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award in Cultural Humanism by the Humanist Chaplaincy at Harvard University, joining a list of previous honorees including novelist Salman Rushdie, screenwriter Joss Whedon, and Mythbusters Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman.^[105]

Personal life[link]

Fry struggled to keep his homosexuality secret during his teenage years at public school, and has claimed not to have engaged in sexual activity for 16 years from 1979 until 1995.^[106][107] When asked when he first acknowledged his sexuality, Fry quipped: "I suppose it all began when I came out of the womb. I looked back up at my mother and thought to myself, 'That's the last time I'm going up one of those.'"^[108] Fry was in a 14-year relationship with Daniel Cohen, which ended in 2010.^{[109][110][111]} Fry has stated that he is 90% homosexual, but has been attracted to women on occasion.^[112]

Fry has a home in London and another in Hollywood.^[113] He also has a home near King's Lynn, Norfolk. When in London, Fry drives a dark green TX4 London cab.

Fry was an active supporter of the Labour Party for many years, and appeared in a party political broadcast on its behalf with Hugh Laurie and Michelle Collins in November 1993. Despite this, he did not vote in the 2005 General Election because of the stance of both the Labour and Conservative parties with regard to the Iraq War. Despite his praise of the Blair/Brown government's work on social reform, Fry has been critical of the Labour Party's "Third Way" concept. Fry appeared in literature to support changing the British electoral system from first-past-the-post to alternative vote for electing Members of Parliament to the House of Commons in the Alternative Vote referendum in 2011.^[114]

He is on cordial terms with Prince Charles (despite a mild parody Fry performed in his role of King Charles I in the comedy programme Blackadder: The Cavalier Years), through his work with the Prince's Trust. He attended the Prince of Wales' and Camilla Parker Bowles' wedding in 2005.

Fry is a friend of British comedian and actor (and Blackadder co-star) Rowan Atkinson and was best man at Atkinson's wedding to Sunetra Sastry at the Russian Tea Room in New York City. Fry was a friend of British actor John Mills.^[115]

His best friend is Hugh Laurie,^[116] whom he met while both were at Cambridge and with whom he has collaborated many times over the years. He was best man at Laurie's wedding and is godfather to all three of his children.^[117]

A fan of cricket, Fry has claimed to be related to former England cricketer C.B. Fry,^[118] and was interviewed for the Ashes Fever DVD, reporting on England's victory over Australia in the 2005 Ashes series. Regarding football, he is a supporter of Norwich City, and is a regular visitor to Carrow Road.

He has been described as "deeply dippy for all things digital", claims to have bought the third Macintosh computer sold in the UK (his friend Douglas Adams bought the first two) and jokes that he has never encountered a smartphone that he has not bought.^[119] He counts Wikipedia among his favourite websites "because I like to find out that I died, and that I'm currently in a ballet in China, and all the other very accurate and important things that Wikipedia brings us all."^[120]

Fry has a long-standing interest in Internet production, including having his own website since 1997. His current site, The New Adventures of Mr Stephen Fry, has existed since 2002 and has attracted many visitors following his first blog in September 2007, which comprised a 6,500 word "blessay" on smartphones. In February 2008, Fry launched his private podcast series, Stephen Fry's Podgrams, and a forum, including discussions on depression and activities in which Fry is involved. The website content is created by Stephen Fry and produced by Andrew Sampson. Fry is also a supporter of GNU and the Free Software Foundation.^[121] For the 25th anniversary of the GNU operating system, Fry appeared in a video explaining some of the philosophy behind GNU by likening it to the sharing found in science.^[122]

On 30 April 2008, Fry signed an open letter, published in The Guardian newspaper by some well known Jewish personalities, stating their opposition to celebrating the 60th anniversary of the founding of the State of Israel.^[123] Furthermore, he is a signatory member of the British Jews for Justice for Palestinians organisation, which campaigns for Palestinian rights.^[124]

Fry was among over 100 signatories to a statement published by Sense About Science on 4 June 2009, condemning British libel laws and their use to "severely curtail the right to free speech on a matter of public interest."^[125]

Poland controversy[link]

On 6 October 2009, Fry was interviewed by Jon Snow on Channel 4 News^[126] as a signatory of a letter to British Conservative Party leader David Cameron expressing concern about the party's relationship with Poland's opposition national conservative Law and Justice party in the European Parliament.^[127] During the interview, he stated:

There has been a history, let's face it, in Poland of a right-wing Catholicism which has been deeply disturbing for those of us who know a little history, and remember which side of the border Auschwitz was on and know the stories, and know much of the anti-semitic, and homophobic and nationalistic elements in countries like Poland.

The remark prompted a complaint from the Polish Embassy in London, an editorial in The Economist and criticism from British Jewish historian David Cesarani.^{[128][129][130][131]} Fry has since posted an apology in a six-page post on his personal blog, in which he stated:

I offer no excuse. I seemed to imply that the Polish people had been responsible for the most infamous of all the death factories of the Third Reich. I didn't even really at the time notice the import of what I had said, so gave myself no opportunity instantly to retract the statement. It was a rubbishy, cheap and offensive remark that I have been regretting ever since. I take this opportunity to apologise now. I said a stupid, thoughtless and fatuous thing. It detracted from and devalued my argument, such as it was, and it outraged and offended a large group of people for no very good reason. I am sorry in all directions, and all the more sorry because it is no one's fault but my own, which always makes it so much worse.^[132]

Health[link]

Fry has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder,^[133] specifically stating he suffers from Cyclothymia, referring to it as "bipolar lite".^[134][135] He suffered a nervous breakdown in 1995 while appearing in a West End play called Cell Mates and subsequently walked out of the production, prompting its early closure and incurring the displeasure of co-star Rik Mayall and playwright Simon Gray. Mayall's comedy partner, Adrian Edmondson, made light of the subject in his and Mayall's second Bottom live show. After walking out of the production, Fry went missing for several days while contemplating suicide. He abandoned the idea and left the United Kingdom by ferry, eventually resurfacing in Belgium.^[136]

Fry has spoken publicly about his experience with bipolar disorder, which was also depicted in the documentary Stephen Fry: The Secret Life of the Manic Depressive.^[137][138] In the programme, he interviewed other sufferers of the illness including Carrie Fisher, Richard Dreyfuss and Tony Slattery. Also featured were chef Rick Stein, whose father committed suicide, Robbie Williams, who talks of his experience with major depression, and comedienne and former mental health nurse Jo Brand. He is also involved with the mental health charity Stand to Reason.^[139]

In 2009, Fry lent his support to a campaign led by the human rights organisation Reprieve to prevent the execution of heroin trafficker Akmal Shaikh, a British citizen originally from Pakistan. Some of Shaikh's supporters have said he suffered from undiagnosed bipolar disorder. Despite calls for clemency, Shaikh was executed in the People's Republic of China for drug trafficking.^[140]

In January 2008, he broke his arm while filming Last Chance to See in Brazil.^[141] He later explained in a podcast how the accident happened: while climbing aboard a boat, he slipped between it and the dock, and, while stopping himself from falling into the water, his body weight caused his right humerus to snap. The damage was more severe than first thought: the resulting vulnerability to his radial nerve – he was at risk of losing the use of his arm – was not diagnosed until he saw a consultant in the UK.^[142]

As the host of QI, Fry has stated that he is allergic to both champagne^[143] and bumble bee stings.^[144]

Appearing on Top Gear in 2009, Fry had lost a significant amount of weight, prompting host Jeremy Clarkson to ask jokingly, "Where's the rest of you?" Fry explained that he had shed a total of 6 stone (84 lb; 38 kg), attributing the weight loss to doing a lot of walking while listening to downloaded Audiobooks.^[145]

Fry is between 6 feet 4 inches (1.93 m) and 6 feet 5 inches (1.96 m) in height.^[146][147]

Business[link]

In 2008, Fry formed SamFry Ltd, with long-term collaborator Andrew Sampson, to produce and fund new material, as well as manage his official website.^[148]

Bibliography[link]

• Fry, Stephen; Laurie, Hugh (1990). A Bit of Fry and Laurie. Mandarin. ISBN 978-0-7493-0705-9. 
• Fry, Stephen (1991). The Liar. Soho. ISBN 978-0-939149-82-7. 
• Fry, Stephen (1994). The Hippopotamus. Soho Press. ISBN 978-1-56947-054-1. 
• Fry, Stephen (1997). Making History. Arrow. ISBN 978-0-09-946481-5. 
• Fry, Stephen (1997). Moab Is My Washpot: An Autobiography. Soho Press. ISBN 978-1-56947-202-6. 
• Fry, Stephen (2000). The Stars' Tennis Balls. Hutchinson. ISBN 978-0-09-180151-9. 
• Fry, Stephen (2003). Revenge: A Novel (reprint ed.). Random House. ISBN 978-0-8129-6819-4. 
• Fry, Stephen (2005). The Ode Less Travelled: Unlocking the Poet Within. Hutchinson. ISBN 978-0-09-179661-7. 
• Lloyd, John; Fry, Stephen; Mitchinson, John (2006). The Book of General Ignorance. Faber and Faber. ISBN 978-0-571-23368-7. 
• Carwardine, Mark; Fry, Stephen (2009). Last Chance to See. HarperCollins Publishers Limited. ISBN 978-0-00-729072-7. 
• Fry, Stephen (2010). The Fry Chronicles: An Autobiography. Michael Joseph. ISBN 0-7181-5483-5. 

References[link]

External links[link]

• Quotations related to Stephen Fry at Wikiquote
• Media related to Stephen Fry at Wikimedia Commons
• Official website
• Stephen Fry at the Open Directory Project
• Stephen Fry at the Internet Movie Database
• Five Minutes With: Stephen Fry, interview with Matthew Stadlen for the BBC

Links to related articles Academic offices Preceded by Paul Henderson Scott Rector of the University of Dundee 1992–1998 Succeeded by Tony Slattery v t e QI Episodes by series A B C D E F G H I J People Stephen Fry Alan Davies John Lloyd John Mitchinson Piers Fletcher Justin Pollard Ian Lorimer Dan Schreiber Vitali Vitaliev Adam Jacot de Boinod Regular guests Chris Addison Ronni Ancona Clive Anderson Bill Bailey Danny Baker Jo Brand Gyles Brandreth Rob Brydon Jimmy Carr Jeremy Clarkson Jack Dee Hugh Dennis Howard Goodall Dave Gorman Rich Hall Andy Hamilton Jeremy Hardy Charlie Higson Phill Jupitus Phil Kay Sean Lock Fred MacAulay Lee Mack Doon Mackichan Rory McGrath David Mitchell Ross Noble Graham Norton Dara Ó Briain Sue Perkins Vic Reeves John Sessions Arthur Smith Linda Smith Mark Steel Liza Tarbuck Sandi Toksvig Johnny Vegas Books The Book of General Ignorance The Book of Animal Ignorance Advanced Banter The QI Book of the Dead The Second Book of General Ignorance Related projects The Museum of Curiosity QI News Quite Interesting Limited Unbound v t e Whose Line Is It Anyway? UK version Host Clive Anderson Regular contestants Chip Esten Stephen Frost Stephen Fry Josie Lawrence Mike McShane Paul Merton Colin Mochrie Greg Proops John Sessions Brad Sherwood Tony Slattery Steve Steen Ryan Stiles Jim Sweeney Sandi Toksvig Caroline Quentin Musicians Colin Sell Richard Vranch Laura Hall Win Meyerson US version Host Drew Carey Regular contestants Wayne Brady Chip Esten Kathy Greenwood Colin Mochrie Greg Proops Brad Sherwood Denny Siegel Ryan Stiles Jeff Davis Musicians Laura Hall Linda Taylor Cece Worrall-Ruben Related topics List of UK episodes List of US episodes List of games Drew Carey's Green Screen Show (List of episodes) Mock the Week Drew Carey's Improv-A-Ganza (List of episodes) v t e Stephen Fry Autobiographies Moab Is My Washpot (1997) The Fry Chronicles (2010) Novels The Liar (1991) The Hippopotamus (1994) Making History (1997) The Stars' Tennis Balls (2000) Non-fiction Paperweight (1992) Stephen Fry's Incomplete and Utter History of Classical Music (2004) The Ode Less Travelled: Unlocking the Poet Within (2005) Stephen Fry in America (2008) Audiobooks The Dongle of Donald Trefusis (2009) Screenplays Bright Young Things (2003) The Magic Flute (2006) The Dam Busters (TBA) The Liar (TBA) Film The Good Father (1985) A Fish Called Wanda (1988) Peter's Friends (1992) I.Q. (1994) Wilde (1997) The Tichborne Claimant (1998) Gosford Park (2001) The Discovery of Heaven (2001) Thunderpants (2002) The Life and Death of Peter Sellers (2004) The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005) A Cock and Bull Story (2005) V For Vendetta (2006) Stormbreaker (2006) St Trinian's (2007) Eichmann (2007) House of Boys (2009) Alice in Wonderland (2010) Animals United (2010) Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011) The Hobbit: There and Back Again (2012) Television The Crystal Cube (1983) Alfresco (1983–1984) Blackadder II (1986) Saturday Live (1985–1987) A Bit of Fry & Laurie (1987–1995) Blackadder Goes Forth (1986) Jeeves and Wooster (1990–1993) QI (2003–present) Absolute Power (2003–2005) Stephen Fry: The Secret Life of the Manic Depressive (2006) Kingdom (2007–2009) Stephen Fry in America (2008) Last Chance to See (2009) Stephen Fry's 100 Greatest Gadgets (2011) Fry's Planet Word (2011) Radio Loose Ends (1986) Saturday Night Fry (1988) Absolute Power (2000–2006) Stephen Fry's Podgrams See also Fry and Laurie BBC Radio 4 Queens' College Who Do You Think You Are? v t e Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Music (1976–2000) Marvin Hamlisch (1976) Cy Coleman (1977) Cy Coleman/Carol Hall (1978) Stephen Sondheim (1979) Andrew Lloyd Webber (1980) Maury Yeston (1982) Andrew Lloyd Webber (1983) Jerry Herman (1984) Larry Grossman (1985) Rupert Holmes (1986) Stephen Fry/Noel Gay/Mike Ockrent/Douglas Furber/Claude-Michel Schönberg (1987) Andrew Lloyd Webber (1988) Cy Coleman (1990) Cy Coleman (1991) Erik Frandsen/Michael Garin/Paul Lockheart/Robert Hipkins (1992) Marvin Hamlisch (1993) Stephen Sondheim (1994) Cy Coleman (1997) Stephen Flaherty (1998) Andrew Lippa (2000) Complete list (1969–1975) (1976–2000) (2001–2025) v t e Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture (2001–2010) Gosford Park (2001): Eileen Atkins, Bob Balaban, Alan Bates, Charles Dance, Stephen Fry, Michael Gambon, Richard E. Grant, Tom Hollander, Derek Jacobi, Kelly Macdonald, Helen Mirren, Jeremy Northam, Clive Owen, Ryan Phillippe, Maggie Smith, Geraldine Somerville, Kristin Scott Thomas, Sophie Thompson, Emily Watson, James Wilby Chicago (2002): Christine Baranski, Ekaterina Chtchelkanova, Taye Diggs, Denise Faye, Colm Feore, Richard Gere, Deidre Goodwin, Queen Latifah, Lucy Liu, Susan Misner, Mýa, John C. Reilly, Dominic West, Renée Zellweger, Catherine Zeta-Jones The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003): Sean Astin, Sean Bean, Cate Blanchett, Orlando Bloom, Billy Boyd, Bernard Hill, Ian Holm, Ian McKellen, Dominic Monaghan, Viggo Mortensen, John Noble, Miranda Otto, John Rhys-Davies, Andy Serkis, Liv Tyler, Karl Urban, Hugo Weaving, David Wenham, Elijah Wood Sideways (2004): Thomas Haden Church, Paul Giamatti, Virginia Madsen, Sandra Oh Crash (2005): Christopher "Ludacris" Bridges, Sandra Bullock, Don Cheadle, Matt Dillon, Jennifer Esposito, William Fichtner, Brendan Fraser, Terrence Howard, Thandie Newton, Ryan Phillippe, Larenz Tate Little Miss Sunshine (2006): Alan Arkin, Abigail Breslin, Steve Carell, Toni Collette, Paul Dano, Greg Kinnear No Country for Old Men (2007): Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin, Garret Dillahunt, Tess Harper, Woody Harrelson, Tommy Lee Jones, Kelly Macdonald Slumdog Millionaire (2008): Rubina Ali, Tanay Chheda, Ashutosh Lobo Gajiwala, Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail, Anil Kapoor, Irrfan Khan, Ayush Mahesh Khedekar, Tanvi Ganesh Lonkar, Madhur Mittal, Dev Patel, Freida Pinto Inglourious Basterds (2009): Daniel Brühl, August Diehl, Julie Dreyfus, Michael Fassbender, Sylvester Groth, Jacky Ido, Diane Kruger, Mélanie Laurent, Denis Menochet, Mike Myers, Brad Pitt, Eli Roth, Til Schweiger, Rod Taylor, Christoph Waltz, Martin Wuttke The King's Speech (2010): Anthony Andrews, Helena Bonham Carter, Jennifer Ehle, Colin Firth, Michael Gambon, Derek Jacobi, Guy Pearce, Geoffrey Rush, Timothy Spall Complete list (1995–2000) (2001–2010) (2011–2020)

Craig Charles
in May 2009
Born	Craig Joseph Charles (1964-07-11) 11 July 1964 (age 47) Liverpool, England
Nationality	British
Occupation	Actor, broadcaster, presenter, comedian, author, performance poet, voice-over artist, disc jockey
Years active	1981–present
Notable work(s)	Red Dwarf (1988-present) Funk & Soul Show (2002-present) Coronation Street (2005-present) Robot Wars (1998-2004) Takeshi's Castle (2002-2004)
Spouse	Cathy Tyson (m. 1984, div. 1989) Jackie Fleming (m. 1997) «start: (1997-08)»"Marriage: Jackie Fleming to Craig Charles" Location: (linkback:http://en-wiki.pop.wn.com/index.php/Craig_Charles)

Craig Joseph Charles (born 11 July 1964) is an English actor, comedian, author, poet, television presenter and radio DJ. He is best known for playing Dave Lister in the British cult-favourite science fiction sitcom Red Dwarf, and Lloyd Mullaney in the long-running soap opera Coronation Street.

Charles first appeared on television as a performance poet, which led on to minor presenting roles. After finding fame in Red Dwarf, he regularly featured on national television, with celebrity appearances on many popular shows of the time, while he continued to host a wide variety of programmes. After a substantial setback in 1994, Charles re-established his career with a sell-out national tour of his poignant stand-up comedy act.

Charles notably presented the gladiator-style game show Robot Wars and narrated the comedy endurance show Takeshi's Castle. His acting credits include playing inmate Eugene Buffy in the powerful ITV drama The Governor, and leading roles in the British films Fated and Clubbing to Death. As well as starring in Coronation Street and occasional Red Dwarf series, Charles continues to host his Funk and Soul Show on BBC radio, and performs DJ sets at numerous clubs and festivals nationally.

Early life[link]

Charles was born to a mixed race family in Liverpool; his Guyana-born father was black,^[1] and his mother was white Irish.^[2] Charles has an older brother, Dean, and a younger brother, Emile. He grew up on the deprived Cantril Farm estate^{[citation needed]} and went to school with Micky Quinn,^{[citation needed]} who became a professional footballer. He attended West Derby Comprehensive School followed by Childwall Hall College of Further Education.^[3] Charles won a national competition, run by The Guardian newspaper, for a poem he wrote when he was twelve years old.^[4]

Early career[link]

Charles began his career as a contemporary and urban performance poet on the British cabaret circuit. His performances were considered original, with Charles described as having a natural ironic wit which appealed to talent scouts. In 1981, Charles climbed on stage at a Teardrop Explodes concert and recited a humourous, but derogatory, poem about the band's singer. He was invited to open subsequent gigs for the band, and then began performing as a support act in pubs and clubs, for the next three years,^[5] and at events such as the Larks in the Park music festival at Sefton Park (1982). He performed poetry at Liverpool's Everyman Theatre (1983), alongside such poets as Roger McGough and Adrian Henri.

Charles was involved in the Liverpool music scene, writing and singing lyrics for a number of local rock bands.^[6] In 1980, he played keyboards and provided voice in the rock band Watt 4.^[7] Charles performed his rap lyrics to music, as a 'Wordsmith', with his writing having a powerful political message. In 1983, Charles was invited to record a session on the John Peel BBC Radio show with his band, and performed six poems. This was his first professional engagement.^[8] Also in 1983, he recorded tracks including "In England and In Africa" and "Sing Like Billy Bragg" which were used as a ‘demo’ to secure a further Peel Session, in 1984, where he performed three songs including "Hands Together Eyes Closed".^[9]

Charles realised he was using poetry as a vehicle for his sense of humour, and progressed into stand-up comedy. Charles was part of the Red Wedge comedy tour in 1986, which aimed to raise awareness of the social problems of the time, in support of the Labour Party. He performed his first one-man show in 1986, premiering in Edinburgh, then touring it internationally. Charles was a guest on programmes including Janice Long's Radio 1 show, and was a regular panellist on Ned Sherrin's chat show Loose Ends (1987-8) on BBC Radio 4. ^[10]

Television career[link]

Poetry[link]

Charles first appeared on television as the resident poet on the arts programme Riverside on BBC2, and on the day-time BBC1 chat show Pebble Mill at One.^[11] Charles was the resident poet on Channel 4's Black on Black (1985)^[12], and its entertainment-based successor, Club Mix (1986), and appeared, weekly, as a John Cooper Clarke-style 'punk poet' on the BBC2 pop music programme Oxford Road Show. He performed his political poems as stand-up comedy on the late-night show, Saturday Live, and on the prime-time BBC1 chat show Wogan, where he performed a topical poem in a weekly feature. He also appeared as a guest on shows including Open Air (1988). Charles included significant acting in his performance style, to enable him to put the emotion across.^[13]

[edit] Red Dwarf

Charles acquired cult status in 1988, in his television acting debut, as the Liverpudlian slob Dave Lister, in BBC2's new science fiction comedy series Red Dwarf. Charles has played this role in all eight series, until 1999, and in the 2009 three-part special, Red Dwarf: Back to Earth, for channel Dave. Charles' younger brother, Emile Charles, guest-starred in the series III episode "Timeslides", and the songs "Bad News" and "Cash" in this episode were written by Charles, and performed by his band.^[14] The role has involved Charles playing a variety of alternative characters, including a gangster, a cowboy, and angelic and evil versions of Lister,^[15] and in him carrying out a wide range of stunts, and acting involving special effects. All episodes, except those of series VII and IX, were recorded in front of a studio audience.

Charles reads the audiobook editions of the Red Dwarf novel Last Human, and his book The Log: A Dwarfer's Guide to Everything, and he regularly attends sci-fi, comedy and memorabilia conventions in connection with the Red Dwarf franchise. During Back to Earth, Charles' character, Lister, visits the set of Coronation Street where he meets the actor Craig Charles. Charles has filmed a 10th series of Red Dwarf, which is due to be broadcast on Dave in October 2012.^[16]

[edit] Robot Wars

Charles most notably presented the cult TV hit Robot Wars on BBC2 (1998–2003) and Channel 5 (2003–2004), from series 2 until its conclusion at series 7, which included two Extreme series and numerous 'specials'. Charles was the main host and presided over the arena in which teams of amateur engineers battled their home-made radio-controlled robots against each other, and against the house robots. Charles introduced the show, enthusiastically announced the results of the battles and spoke to the contestants after the main events. He ended each episode with a short Robot Wars themed poem. Charles' son, Jack, appeared on the show on several occasions, and was a contestant on "Team Nemesis" during series 4.^[17] Charles also hosted the Robot Wars Live UK tour, in 2001, and shows performed at the Wembley Arena.

[edit] Coronation Street

In 2005, Charles joined the principal cast of Coronation Street, the world's longest-running TV soap opera, playing philandering taxicab driver, Lloyd Mullaney.^[18] Charles introduced certain aspects of the character himself, making Lloyd a Northern Soul music record collector. Lloyd is portrayed as tough, but kind hearted and romantic, and the character is popular with viewers. Charles adds a comedy element to the role, but also has traumatic and emotional scenes with complicated storylines. In 2010, his character was involved in the show's dramatic 50th anniversary tram crash storyline, which was recorded live. Charles has presented documentaries for the show, including 50 Years of Corrie Stunts (2010). In November 2011, Charles took time off from Coronation Street to film a new series of Red Dwarf, returning to filming on 'Corrie' in April 2012. ^[19]

Other acting roles[link]

Charles has acted in episodes of popular dramas such as The Bill (1995), EastEnders (2002) and Holby City (2003) and in the comedy The 10 Percenters (1996). Charles played the emotionally disturbed and violent prisoner, Eugene Buffy, in the high successful Lynda La Plante drama series The Governor (1995); the title role in the Channel 4 pirate sitcom Captain Butler (1997); the warden of a women's prison in the Canadian sci-fi fantasy Lexx (2001);^[20] Detective Chief Inspector Mercer in 7 episodes of the BBC soap opera Doctors (2003); and soccer agent, Joel Brooks, in the Sky TV football soap Dream Team (2004-5).

Other presenting roles[link]

Charles has presented children's television programmes, including What's That Noise? (1989) on BBC1, Parallel 9 (1992) on BBC1 and Go Getters (1994) on ITV. He was the travelling reporter for the highly acclaimed, but controversial, BBC mockumentary Ghostwatch, which tricked viewers into believing it was a live investigation into ghost sightings in a suburban home on Halloween night (1992). Charles presented the virtual reality game show Cyberzone (1993) on BBC2; the late-night entertainment show Funky Bunker (1997) on ITV; the reality television show Jailbreak (2000) on Channel 5; and the late-night chat show Weapons of Mass Distraction (2004) on ITV.

Charles provided the voice-over commentary for the UK version of the Japanese hit game show Takeshi's Castle, shown on Challenge and Ftn (2002 - 2004), in which contestants attempted to pass a series of near-impossible physical challenges, to reach the final showdown at the castle and win cash prizes. Charles commentated throughout each episode, offering comedy insights into the contestants' abilities, which were designed to appeal to adult audiences, as well as younger viewers.

Celebrity appearances[link]

Charles has appeared on celebrity editions of University Challenge (1998), Can't Cook, Won't Cook (1998) and The Weakest Link (2004), and comedy panel shows such as Have I Got News For You (1995), Just a Minute (1995) and They Think It's All Over (1996). He was a team captain on the sci-fi quiz series Space Cadets (1997) on Channel 4, which guest starred William Shatner. Charles has opened the National Lottery draw (1997) and his home has featured on Through the Keyhole. Charles was a contestant in the Celebrity Poker Club tournament (2004) on Challenge, where he reached the semi-finals, and in the Channel 4 reality game show, The Games (2005), which documented the contestants' intensive training regime and each live Olympic Games-style sporting event, in which he came fourth overall in the men's competition.

Other career[link]

Radio work[link]

As well as being a regular panellist on Radio 4's Loose Ends (1987-88), and guest appearances on shows such as Radio 4's Kaleidoscope, in the early 1990s, Charles could be heard on the London Radio Station Kiss 100 (Kiss FM) as the Breakfast show presenter. In 1995, Charles played The Porter in Steven Berkoff's adaptation of Shakespeare's Macbeth, also on Radio 4.

Since 2002, Charles has been a DJ on BBC Radio 6 Music, presenting The Craig Charles Funk and Soul Show, where he plays a diverse range of funk and soul music, from classic tracks to the latest releases, and provides publicity for new bands. Charles explains the context for the music and carries out engaging interviews with guest musicians. Charles was with the station at its launch, and while it was being tested during the previous year, under the name Network Y. Charles has also hosted the stations Breakfast Show (2004) and has sat in for Andrew Collins, Phil Wilding, Phill Jupitus and Radcliffe & Maconie.

Charles regularly sits in for Janice Long, Steve Wright and Jo Whiley on BBC Radio 2, and has presented numerous one-off programmes on the station, including The Craig Charles Soul All-Nighter (2011), which he hosted continuously for 12 hours.^[21] Charles has also chosen music as a guest of other broadcasters such as Ken Bruce on Radio 2 and Liz Kershaw on 6 Music.

Music[link]

Charles has been involved in the music industry through much of his career. His bands have included Watt 4 (1980), in which he played keyboards and provided voice, Craig Charles and the Beat Burglars (1989), The Sons of Gordon Gekko (1989), where he wrote lyrics and also composed tunes for the band, and The Eye (2000-01), with whom he released the rock album "Giving You The Eye, Live at the Edinburgh Festival". In 1987, Charles provided the poem track used for the opening credits of the BBC series The Marksman, which he also acted in, and the track is included on the album "The Marksman: Music from the BBC TV series". In 1993, Charles was signed to the Acid Jazz record label^[22].

In 2009, Charles formed the Fantasy Funk Band, from the leading British musicians in the genre, and has presented the band at festivals, including Glastonbury. As an extension of his 6 Music show, Charles regularly takes the Funk and Soul Club to varied venues across the UK and to most major music festivals. He performs live DJ sets, occasionally comperes and curates the events, and has broadcast the radio show live from the festival location.

Stand-up comedy and theatre[link]

Charles returned to stand-up comedy between 1995^[23] and 2001, regularly touring his one-man adult-rated shows nationally, and releasing the videos Craig Charles: Live on Earth! (1995) and Sickbag (2000). International performances included the Great Norwegian Comedy Festival and the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. Charles appeared in the John Godber comedy play Teechers, in which he swapped in and out of various roles, at the Arts Theatre, London, and at the Edinburgh Festival (1989), and he played Idle Jack in the pantomime Dick Whittington, at the Hull New Theatre (1997).^[24] In 2000, he performed the show Craig Charles and His Band at the Edinburgh Festival.^[25]

Film roles[link]

Charles played Eddie in the 1987 political drama Business as Usual. In 2006, Charles starred in two feature films: the fantasy film Fated, and the gangster movie Clubbing to Death. Charles also voiced Zipper the Cat in the animation Prince Cinders (1993) and Asterix in Asterix Conquers America (1994).

Writing[link]

In 1993, Charles worked with Russell Bell on the Craig Charles Almanac of Total Knowledge writing about his 'streetwise' sense of humour on a range of topics, from the world's most embarrassing stories to how to explain the mysteries of the universe. In 1997, he and Russell wrote Charles' Red Dwarf character's book The Log, in which Lister decides to leave a log detailing mankind's greatest achievements. In 1998, Charles published No Other Blue, a collection of his poetry, with illustrations by Philippa Drakeford, on diverse personal subjects including prison, his mother's final illness, love, and politics at home and abroad.

In 2000, Charles wrote his first autobiography about his experiences growing up in Liverpool, titled No Irish, No Niggers. In 2007, he announced he would release his autobiography, planned for March 2008, published by Hodder Headline and titled On the Rocks, which would cover the recent incidents in his life. The autobiography would be based on much of his journal, which he said he kept while in rehab.^[26] Charles has been involved in journalism and has had a column in Time Out magazine. In 1994, he launched a single issue of Comedy magazine with articles dedicated to the comedy circuit. In 2005 and 2006, Charles was a monthly columnist for the Liverpool Echo newspaper. His television writing credits include Funky Bunker (1997) and Takeshi's Castle (2002).

Personal life[link]

Relationships[link]

In 1984, Charles married English actress Cathy Tyson. Their son, Jack, was born in 1988. The couple divorced in 1989.

In the early 1990s, Charles dated Irish singer-songwriter Suzanne Rhatigan, co-writing lyrics for her album To Hell With Love and directing a video for her. Rhatigan appeared alongside Charles in the Red Dwarf series IV episode "Camille".

In August 1997,^{[citation needed]} Charles married his second wife, Jackie, with whom he has two daughters Anna-Jo (born 1997) and Nellie (born 2003).

Rape allegation[link]

In July 1994, Charles and a friend were arrested and remanded in custody for several months on a rape charge.^[27] While in prison, Charles was attacked by a man wielding a knife.^[28] In March 1995, both men were acquitted in their trial. After being cleared, Charles spoke of the need to restore anonymity for those accused of rape. He stated that "the fact that my name and address along with my picture can appear on the front of the papers before the so-called victim has even signed a statement proves that anonymity for rape defendants is a must and that the law must be changed."^[29]

Drug use[link]

In June 2006, newspaper allegations of crack cocaine use resulted in Charles being suspended from both Coronation Street^[30] and BBC Radio 6 Music. In August, Charles was arrested and released on bail pending further enquiries and, in September, he accepted a caution for possession of a Class A drug.^[31] Charles returned to hosting his 6 Music show from November 2006 and to filming Coronation Street from January 2007.

Filmography and credits[link]

^[32]