Stephen Fry has revealed he’s using a walking stick after sustaining multiple injuries when he fell from a stage at an AI conference in September.
The actor, 66, broke his leg, pelvis and several ribs as result of the freak accident while exiting the O2 Arena stage on the final day of the CogX Festival technology conference.
Eyewitnesses at the event claimed that the QI host fell two metres from the stage to the ground below and was then rushed to hospital for treatment.
Appearing on the Chris Evans Breakfast Show last Thursday, the author opened up about the events that led to his accident and revealed he fell from a six-foot height onto pure concrete.
He told Evans: “I am walking with a cane at the moment, because six weeks ago, to the very day, I delivered a lecture at the O2 Arena in Greenwich for part of CogX, which is a sort of festival of ideas, you might say.
“And I was giving a lecture on AI, a subject which has long absorbed my interest since the Seventies. And I took a bow at the end and walked off stage.
“I don’t know why, I just walked off to the right, having come on from the left! I didn't know as I fiddled with the black curtain that there was a six-foot drop onto concrete.”
Fry added that he broke his leg in two places, his pelvis “in many places”, and “a bunch of ribs”, adding: “So, this is my first sort of outing in the world, really.”
Organisers of the AI and technology festival CogX said they were “deeply concerned” when they learned of Fry’s fall at the event.
A spokesperson for the festival said at the time: “We are thinking of him and wishing him a swift recovery.
“We have opened our own inquiry and until then we are not able to share any further details.”
