Stephen Fry Page 7

They showed him on the telly last night, watching the cricket at Lord's and his weight loss is very evident. So perhaps he is preparing for a role in the aforementioned film.

I know some people who own a mine and they're very middle class!
I thought Doctor Martins made Air Ware?
Oh, I see, how embarassing.

Quote: Kenneth @ September 12 2009, 11:15 PM BST

his weight loss is very evident. So perhaps he is preparing for a role in the aforementioned film.

Either that or he's going to be the new face of Slim Fast. You know what kind of money grabbing, advert obsessed loon he is.

Quote: Kenneth @ September 11 2009, 12:52 PM BST

I assume you've seen the old clip of Kenneth Williams interviewing Stephen Fry? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8oyS_LS920

That's brilliant.

Quote: Lee Henman @ September 12 2009, 7:02 PM BST

Is he a great comic actor? Yes. Is he more intelligent and erudite than most of the population? Yes, he is.

He's clearly the person to come to if you want your teabags advertised in a fruity voice or you want a gay-themed scatological pun, but more intelligent than most of the population? You mean the population of the UK?

I don't know about his actual intelligence, but he has a very interesting way of speaking and seems quite witty. Really, that's more important than him understanding in-depth the effects of gravity on a submolecular level for an entertainer.

Quote: Tim Walker @ September 12 2009, 9:26 PM BST

I think it's just that one half of her fans, i.e. Countdown viewers, lost interest in her when Richard Whitely died. And the other half of her fans, i.e. Countdown viewers, lost interest in her when they themselves died of old age.

True :) But might it have been easier for C4 to dump Ms Vorderman, the sell-out advertising whore, as opposed to a different Vorderman? Imagine if she'd stood up for Ghurka's rights, would a TV company be brave enough to dump her then?

Quote: Godot Taxis @ September 13 2009, 1:48 AM BST

He's clearly the person to come to if you want your teabags advertised in a fruity voice or you want a gay-themed scatological pun, but more intelligent than most of the population? You mean the population of the UK?

No, I mean the population of the world. I'm saying Stephen Fry is more intelligent and talented than the majority of people on this planet. Of course there are people more intelligent, but he's obviously up there above the plebs. To suggest otherwise is stupid in itself, surely. The evidence speaks for itself. He's enormously well-read, a Cambridge graduate, he's been on University Challenge, he has acclaimed performances as Jeeves and Melchett under his belt, he's a columnist, he's written 4 novels, QI is loved by just about everyone, he's massively in-demand as a public speaker, and everyone I know who's met him has remarked on his cleverness as well as his niceness. And he described his IQ score as "approaching genius", which, knowing Fry's modesty will probably mean "genius".

So...yeah.

Quote: Lee Henman @ September 13 2009, 12:50 PM BST

No, I mean the population of the world. I'm saying Stephen Fry is more intelligent and talented than the majority of people on this planet. Of course there are people more intelligent, but he's obviously up there above the plebs. To suggest otherwise is stupid in itself, surely. The evidence speaks for itself. He's enormously well-read, a Cambridge graduate, he's been on University Challenge, he has acclaimed performances as Jeeves and Melchett under his belt, he's a columnist, he's written 4 novels, QI is loved by just about everyone, he's massively in-demand as a public speaker, and everyone I know who's met him has remarked on his cleverness as well as his niceness. And he described his IQ score as "approaching genius", which, knowing Fry's modesty will probably mean "genius".

So...yeah.

Ooh, why don't you just civil partnership him then Lee, you big Nancy?

Only joking, I think S. Fry is a very clever and entertaining dude. I may not tug my forelock (oo-er) to his class background as much as yourself and I'm not really bothered about where he went to Uni either. But I cannot deny that he is one of the most charismatic, erudite and witty performers that the UK entertainment industry has ever produced.

Oh and he appeared on University Challenge twice as your avatar denotes. ;)

Quote: Renegade Carpark @ September 13 2009, 1:16 PM BST

Oh and he appeared on University Challenge twice as your avatar denotes. ;)

Yes, but Fry lost - to a college from Oxford.

Quote: Renegade Carpark @ September 13 2009, 1:16 PM BST

I'm not really bothered about where he went to Uni either.

Generally speaking I do not think degrees count for shit, but people whom I have met who went to Oxbridge have been of above average intellect. Not as bright as me, obviously, but above average.

Quote: Timbo @ September 13 2009, 1:42 PM BST

Generally speaking I do not think degrees count for shit, but people whom I have met who went to Oxbridge have been of above average intellect. Not as bright as me, obviously, but above average.

I have friends who went to both Oxford and Cambridge, and while yes, they are very intelligent people, they've all ended up working middle management for government departments earning shit money.

Of course, they are all lower middle class, so they were always going to hit the glass ceiling by joining such institutionalised, class obsessed employers.

At least they didn't end up in wheelchairs needing a friggin' Speak N' Spell to ask a nurse to change their shit filled man nappies. So every cloud.

Quote: Renegade Carpark @ September 13 2009, 1:50 PM BST

I have friends who went to both Oxford and Cambridge, and while yes, they are very intelligent people, they've all ended up working middle management for government departments earning shit money.

Of course, they are all lower middle class, so they were always going to hit the glass ceiling by joining such institutionalised, class obsessed employers.

The Civil Service is largely classless; it would not be class that would have impeded their progress, it would have been their intelligence.

Quote: Timbo @ September 13 2009, 1:54 PM BST

The Civil Service is largely classless; it would not be class that would have impeded their progress, it would have been their intelligence.

Hmm, let's test out your theory. How many people who run such huge organisations have the words 'Sir, Lord or Dame' in front of their names? And how many of those without any form of official title are multi-millionairres who use their money to define their social standing?

Trust me, when it comes to upper management of any organisation, public or private, intelligence seems to be the last requirement for holding such roles.

Quote: Renegade Carpark @ September 13 2009, 2:01 PM BST

Hmm, let's test out your theory. How many people who run such huge organisations have the words 'Sir, Lord or Dame' in front of their names?

Sir and Dame are generally not hereditary titles. They are long service awards for top civil service servants, who can be of quite humble origins.

And how many of those without any form of official title are multi-millionairres who use their money to define their social standing?

Using money to define social standing is not quite the same as class, which is more about the the advantages conferred by caste, which seemed to be your initial point. If class is mutable it is not a glass ceiling.

Trust me, when it comes to upper management of any organisation, public or private, intelligence seems to be the last requirement for holding such roles.

I perhaps did not make myself clear. I agree with you. The reason they would not have progressed is because they are too intelligent. In today's civil service anyone who speaks out to question the latest purchased-by-the-yard management consultancy bullshit is a marked man.

The qualification for progress in today's society is being an amoral self-serving c**t. I suppose it always has been, but the advantage of a caste based system is that with an artificially limited talent pool, there are not enough c**ts to go round, so there is the possibility of someone half-decent lucking into a top job.