To think Stephen Fry is NOT a national treasure

[SnowWide]

Just listening to his English Delight on Radio4. Dire.

I've never understood all the adulation around him. He is accomplished, well-spoken, prolific. But so are many other actors and authors.

His TV documentaries, especially are really meh.. Dont get me wrong, they are very well made (the one where he travels America, another one on languages), but what exactly is the Stephen Fry touch? Any other knowledgeable presenter could fill his shoes and no one would know the difference...Only liked him as Melchett. Lost all respect for him when he started wittering away posting on Twitter, to be honest.

About 15 years ago when I was a student, I was lucky enough to interview him for our uni mag when he visited the campus to give a talk and have a question and answer session with the students. He was LOVELY - I was a nervous wreck, which he could tell, he put me at ease and couldn't have been more kind and charming. His responses in the question and answer thingy were detailed, thoughtful and funny (it wasn't scripted at all - questions weren't handed in before or anything). One utter knob/religious nutter made some homophobic comment about how Fry was being anti-Christian by promoting homosexulaity and he dealt with it perfectly, without making the guy look small (though he'd deserved it.)

Afterwards, he stayed for AGES signing books and was asking everyone about their courses and seemed genuinely interested.

He was/is Lovely.

Leave him alone. He is fantastic. So talented and a lovely person.
Julie burchill is a nasty cow. Every article I've ever read from her she is being critical of someone. She obviously has issues.

'An intellectual for stupid people'

Is about the most patronising comment I've ever read.

And smacks of jealousy.

It's interesting that people don't like Stephen Fry and Sandi Toksvig.

Could be ingrained Homophobia.

The world is a much better place with them both in it.

My dislike for Sandi Toksvig doesn't stem from homophobia I didn't even know what homosexuality was when I first took a dislike to her.

I think that's quite a cheap shot actually.

YANBU. Extremely overrated.

I agree with balderdash, the world is a much better place with sandi toksvig and stephen fry in it, and British entertainment very much so. I think they are both brilliant, am so excited that the news quiz is nearly back, I really miss it when it isn't on and think they should make it law that it should be on every week. Nay, every day.

YABU

I love him

I can see how some people might not like him because of the perception that he is an upper class twit but that is personal opinion not fact.

He has done many clever and amazing things but the best of all has been his ability to speak frankly and movingly about being bi-polar and the difficulties it has brought him he is always quick to point out his story is not always typical. I have had a lot of dealings with BP first hand as DBro has been BP since age 15 & it is a bastard illnes, Fry's frankness and compassion for fellow sufferers has raised the profile and helped it be more understood

pretending to have a severe mental disorder etc Almeida?

Why on earth would anyone do that, do you realise how insulting that is?

Another refusenik here. Whenever I express my opinion in public however, I get looked at like I've pissed on a granny.

I used to like him. He's worn thin. Like a sanctimonious brother-in-law.

I like him, and Sandi Toksvig. I find them to be cheerful and entertaining, and I prefer comedy quizzes to things like X-Factor or Eastenders, so I'm glad that sort of thing is on every now and again.

I agree he's not a staggering intellectual but I'm not sure he's sold as one, really. He runs a comedy quiz show, not CERN or the LSE.

The fact that he is "posh" or gay is neither here nor there. It hadnt even registered on my radar. If you see my OP, I had only commented on his work.

All I am saying is, the fact that he is a lovely human being is not enough to warrant his National Treasure status. A kind nature is what you would expect of a half decent person. We TEACH our children to be loyal to friends, kind, humble etc. par for the course. Why so surprised when a celeb does it? Have we been so conditioned to expect diva behaviour from them?

What adulation are you talking about though? Is there a feast day in his honour? Did I miss the parade? Is there a statue in a park somewhere?

People like him. Lots of them. What's it to you exactly?

I mistakenly thought this was a lighthearted thread when I posted on it - I really hope nobody is giving themselves an ulcer/high blood pressure over this

ooh, double thats us told!

I don't see whats light hearted about talking about how shit someone is, and loads of people detailing exactly whats wrong with them and their personality? Would it be lighthearted if the person was you?

Knock yourself out though.

Talking openly about his mental health -again not sure why this makes him a saint. Mel Gibson has bipolar disorder. So does Catherine Z Jones. They have also talked about it. Do you see the pattern here? Frys talk just sounds like publicity.

I am aware there are no scientific reasons why we like a person. We cannot dissect our feelings and come up with reasons for it. You either like them or loathe them... Just saying Fry does not rock my boat

He does seem to be massively in demand as a dinner party guest - personally I'd rather watch an old Bit of Fry and Laurie and have my dinner Fry-less!

I think he's done some brilliant stuff in his time, but not much amazing of late really. And the Fry Chronicles was really dire - loads of defensive stuff about Cambridge/public school, loads of name-dropping and an incredibly patronizing passage 'explaining' Oxford and Cambridge's collegiate systems ('would it help if I compared it to Hogwarts? Oh dear, I fear perhaps it might!' BLERK!).

As someone who has close experience of mental-health problems.

I'm really glad when someone famous talks about their own experiences, it helps remove the stigma.

Who has said he's a saint?

YABU he is brilliant I love Qi and everything else he does, not sure about national treasure status doesnt Katherine jenkins hold that title

Oooh Katherine Jenkins... So yummy and my girl crush

He does some wildlife programmes and they are really interesting the last 1 I saw was about madagascar and he seems fascinated not just presenting a telly programme,

I thought his conviction was when he was 17 and therefore still a child?
Legally, it's finished with - rather that people are using it to attack him.

I like him very much: very talented and funny man.

I can remember when I went right off him: my friend took her 7 year old ds to see his pantomime at the Old Vic and said it was really tawdry and full of filthy jokes not suitable for children at all. She sat and cringed through it. some critics thought the same.

He wouldn't have gone to prison if he had been a child when convicted yourself. Plenty of people have past mistakes continually thrown at them but not SF somehow.

He also said that the MP expenses scandal was "not that important" and his justification was that everyone "cheats on their expenses" and "fiddles things". Horrible assumption that everyone would steal money that didn't belong to them. Speak for yourself Stephen.

17 isn't an adult. So its a child. And you can and do go to prison at 17.
So you're wrong there, you can keep your

He was also mentally unstable at the time with untreated bi-polar disorder. And he's been very open about it. What more do you want?