I think I am a little bit in love with Ian Hislop

[SleeplessinSouthwold]

I mean, fearlessly slaying BS for Britain since forever, or what!
No one's too scary, too rich, too big or too pompous for Ian. He has encyclopaedic recall and is quicker and wittier than anybody. (His cute little shaky-shoulders laugh!)

Not an obvious crush, maybe, but when watching IHGNFY of a wintry night, next to a more classically handsome and averagely entertaining DH, I catch myself musing about what could clearly never have been. Reminiscing about being young and dismissing a lovely chap or two because their looks were a little unusual. My loss, probably. It's not always the obvious ones. Somebody knew the decent, intelligent thing to do and married him - Victoria Hislop - the clever clogs! Can she ever be bored? Surely not?

So Ian Hislop: the (moderately, in my case) Thinking Woman's Crumpet?

Can you think of people that - with hindsight - you wished you'd given more of a chance?

Disclaimer(s): I have never met Ian Hislop in RL. But I wish I had. DH and I are doing fine. I am no great catch myself.

I don't fancy him but I'd REALLY want him to like me if I ever met him. Not in a sexual way, just as a person. Like on HIGNFY when it's obvious he thinks someone is witty etc - I want to be that person.

I think he’s great.

I've had a crush on him for years... ❤️

Thank you @OnlyAlchemy , that beardy man asking the questions; not a chance.

The thing is, Hislop is clever AND fearless. He's basically 💯a hero.

Pass the sick bucket 😱

Ian is a small, sleazy, angry red little man in the throes of a a mid life crisis with a paunch and a drink problem and a weird attitude to his very talented wife.

And you are in love with him??

Morning Ian! Whipping up the love this morning.

When I was young I used to cop off with a big, scary goth type. He was a bit scary-looking, but my god he could kiss.

Because I was a little idiot, I just totally disregarded him when the bloke who became my first husband came along. I’ve no idea why. XH was horrid from the off, and Goth-type was lovely. We had amazing chemistry. Kissing XH was like snogging a hamster.

I still muse on it and kick myself for not treating him better, thirty years later. We could have had a lovely relationship, if I’d have been a bit braver. I guess XH was my punishment.

I once had a romantic dream about him. What happened in the dream was that we both agreed we had feelings for each other but since we were both happily married we weren’t going to do anything.
Dream Ian Hislop, just as decent and righteous as real Ian Hislop.

I'm a lot in love with him. He might not be classically hunky but by God he's got a knicker melting twinkle!

Same here @UnbearableLoss, and I don't normally care much about people liking me or not! He's fab. I don't have a crush on him, but I'd love him to be my friend 😍

@Venetiaparties how dare you? Ian is blameless surely? a weird attitude to his very talented wife ?? Do tell.

@TheCountessofFitzdotterel Perfect! This is exactly the kind of scenario I'm thinking of. Do you remain friends, get over it and are invited to his dinner parties, or is it too painful?

Totally agree.
As an aside I wish every episode of hignfy was on bbc iplayer. I could watch all day but there are only ever a few recent episodes. Even the old episodes are very watchable on a winter night.

I've often thought I'd like to watch really old episodes of HIGNFY and other topical programmes — there's something fascinating about watching contemporary discussion of now-historical events.

Yes, quite sure that would be fascinating.

I'm in two minds about IH.

I don't find him physically attractive but I do admire his intelligence and humour and the fact that he is brave enough to challenge the establishment. God knows we need a free press ATM. He's stood up for his principles and been taken to court countless times. That takes a lot of bravery in an age when the Rothermeres and Barclay Brothers are driving the political narrative.

Having said that, I always feel a bit scummy after reading Private Eye. Yes it's very funny in places and exposes some very important stories, which should be encouraged, but there's something a bit grim about always looking for the worst in people. That must do something to your psyche after a while.

Observing the different ways he treats the guests on HIGNFY sitting beside him, I also fear that IH may be a bit of a snob ie he seems very polite and attentive to the Oxbridge types but not to anyone else. And I strongly dislike the "we boys together" schtick he has going on with Paul Merton; which they use to intimidate the other guests. Imho it should be HIGNFY that should be ending and not Mock the Week.

In summary, Dara is much more my type 😀

I always think he's the emperors new clothes type of person. People think he's better than he is. But he's not funny on HIGNFY. He's just snide and comes across as angry. Then rolls his eyes. And people laugh as if he's said something witty. He hasn't. He's just a bit nasty.

I do admire his intelligence and humour and the fact that he is brave enough to challenge the establishment.

What's brave about challenging the establishment in the UK, though? It's not like we're in China or Russia. No one cares if you say anything bad about individuals, political parties, government depts or any part of the establishment.

Oh he definitely gets many laughs just because pp expect him to be funny, even when he's actually on poor form, I agree.

there's something a bit grim about always looking for the worst That's the point, someone's got to do the dirty jobs, not many volunteer..

I think he is great and he has a way of just cutting through bullshit and hypocrisy.

You damage your own career and opportuities very often if you don't arsekiss, everyone knows that.

Many people care very much if you say bad things about them and make things difficult.

Of course it is not the same as China/Russia, but it is still rare for people to call out bad behaviour.

I found this thread last night when I couldn't sleep and ended up watching into the night 🙄👀

Richard Ayoade drives DH mad. Not because there's anything wrong with him, but because I was absolutely convinced that he was Q in the Daniel Craig films and would not be told otherwise for months ages. Now I like to tease DH by saying, "It's Q!!!" every time RA appears.

Ian's demolition of Gary Neville was both funny and incredibly awkward. It reminded me of him taking Boris apart back in the day.

Well I believe Private Eye has been threatened with closure several times because of ongoing libel cases. So his income has been threatened. I have no idea whether he has family money to back him up but he has put his livelihood on the line.

But it's not like we've reached a point where we can say 'move along folks, nothing to see here...', have we?

Sometimes he comes across as mean, sometimes he comes across as brilliant. I'd love to go for a pint with him and find out what he's really like.

Ian if you're reading DM me hun