Comedian Joe Lycett has said that infamous encounter with Liz Truss on the BBC last year gave him a “panic attack”. When she was running to be PM, Truss, pictured, gave an interview to Laura Kuenssberg while Lycett shouted from the sidelines: “Fantastic, Liz!”.
“I had a panic attack in the car on the way home,” Lycett said last night at a recording of The Political Party podcast. “But then generally when I’m having a panic attack I sort of know it’s because I’ve done something that I’ll later be quite proud of.” Lycett said he has fewer panic attacks since having therapy. The appearance led to a Daily Mail front page saying he was “mocking” Truss, which he has in a “massive gold frame” in his house.
The comedian is a scourge of the cabinet, but says, “I’m not anti-Tory particularly, or anti-Conservative. I am very anti this government.”
Lycett, who is pansexual, has strong views on equal rights. “LGBT stuff I get a lot more clear on because essentially most of that is: will I be killed or not? Generally I’d prefer to not be killed.” Before the Qatar World Cup, he pledged to shred £10,000 unless David Beckham cancelled his ambassadorial role with the tournament, citing abuses against LGBT people in Qatar. Last night, he revealed real money was put into the shredder but fake money was spat out. He gave the cash to charity.
Lycett said he’s considered posing as a wealthy Tory donor to get into dinners as a stunt. Watch out, Rishi.
Why Major really let Mrs T off lightly
Who’s afraid of Margaret Thatcher? Not ex-PM John Major, he says, claiming he went easy on his predecessor because she wasn’t a man. Sir John said last week that his Victorian values on “how you behave towards women” stopped him from hitting back at Mrs T when she criticised his policies such as the Maastricht Treaty in the Nineties.
But is Major being a little generous to himself about his dealings with the Iron Lady? Former health minister Edwina Currie tells us: “Nobody went easy on Margaret Thatcher. She dominated the room, the cabinet, the Commons and the party, especially from the Falklands until she was challenged in 1989”. Currie went on: “The claim suggests [he] was stronger than her. That just wasn’t true”. Currie had an affair with Major, so she knows him well.
Awards love Jemima: her film wins four
Jemima Goldsmith won four National Film Awards at Porchester Hall last night for the film she produced, What’s Love Got To Do With It?, including best screenwriter. “I promised my children that after my disastrous speech at our premiere that I wouldn’t talk too much,” she said. The film is about arranged marriages. Goldsmith, who has dated Imran Khan and Hugh Grant, has said having one could have “saved me a lot of heartache and headaches”.
50 years, our brains hurt a lot
David Bowie fans were in Hammersmith last night to see a film marking 50 years since he retired his Ziggy Stardust alter ego at the Odeon. Actor Andy Serkis, there with wife Lorraine, recalled Bowie’s humour when they made film The Prestige together. “He laughed at himself a lot. When we were doing The Prestige he said: ‘I think my Nikola Tesla sounds a little bit like Inspector Clouseau.’ He was always laughing at his own Serbian accent, which wasn’t that great, I have to say.” “He was always laughing at his Serbian accent, which wasn’t that great, I have to say,” Serkis said. “He was incredibly modest… he expands your way of thinking… he brings things out of you as an artist.”
Richard E. Grant dressed up, and said Bowie’s legacy was that people can “shag who they want to shag”. The film will be shown again on 8 July.
New balls please
Emma Raducanu isn’t playing at Wimbledon this year due to injuries on both wrists, but did head down to SW19 yesterday. The star has contracts with Vodafone and Tiffany, and did some corporate work, saying she “felt the connection” while meeting fans in the queue.
Also in the Evian suite were popstar Pixie Lott and her husband Oliver Cheshire, who recently announced that they are expecting a baby. The pair played table tennis backstage while Lott’s friend said she was “top of the dance moms pyramid” for getting tickets to the tournament.
Attending too were model Kimberley Garner, presenters Marvin and Rochelle Humes, and Hollywood royalty Leslie Mann, Iris Apatow and Judd Apatow, who are in town this summer.
