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.

No one here is attacking him for his lapse of judgement. Just an observation that the national press has kept schtum so far, when they are not averse to laying into other celebrities like vicious hounds. I refer you to the Sisters Middleton vs the Daily So-and-so. Pippa has brightened up the US open apparently when previously they were being set upon for just being the wrong class.

Am completely with blueemerald Stephen Fry has a brilliant PR team. Drip feeding the press with tales of personal warmth and friendship does not mask the fact heis a mediocre TV personality...

The national press has kept schtum so far? What, no-one rushed to report a 40 year old minor crime?
Although a quick google throws up any number of media references to it, including national press, so I really don't know what you are talking about.

The MP expenses scandal wasn't that important.

The amount of money involved was tiny if looked at in context.

I like him, he seems sweet.

I like that he takes an interest in many and various things and conveys his fascination about them in an enthusiastic way.

I do not think he is a great intellectual. I think he has a decent memory for interesting facts, a good general knowledge base and a posh accent which gives the impression of him being highly intellectual. But that's not a bad thing, I love hearing anecdotes, beautifully recounted.

I like Sandi, too, but her voice grates on me at times.

To be honest I don't think YABU.

Be warned though once someone has been described as a 'national treasure' enough times it's seen as treasonous to disagree.

I?m a bit ambivalent towards Stephen Fry really. I do admire his open attitude towards his own mental health problems, it?s great that such a high profile figure can discuss these things in a public forum. He has a superficial knowledge of many subjects but I don?t buy into him being a genius. He's a bit twinkly eyed, he?s articulate, he can be witty but he can also be a bit of a twat.
Remember the article last year where he claimed stated that women don?t enjoy sex? I feel sorry for straight men. The only reason women will have sex with them is that sex is the price they are willing to pay for a relationship with a man, which is what they want," he said. "Of course, a lot of women will deny this and say, 'Oh no, but I love sex, I love it!' But do they go around having it the way that gay men do?. That article made me see the man in a different light.

And any time there is a question ?Who is your ideal dinner party guest?? people always say Stephen Fry. Why? People love him because he?s very middle class, Oxbridge educated, a bit plain, a bit fat. I do think some of his fans think that adoring a ?clever? celeb like Stephen reflects well on their own intelligence. It?s the sycophantic adoration of him that irritates me the most and I always think he?s desperately to trying to be a 21st century Oscar Wilde. No chance.

p.s. I dislike that horrific Alan Davies more than I?ll ever dislike Stephen Fry. I do like Sandy Toksvig however.

Ok, whatyoulookingat, we don't agree. That's ok. The age of criminal responsibility is 10 in the UK. In that sense, legally, no he wasn't a child.

catgirl2012- I don't even know where to start. It's not about the amount of money. It's the corrupt attitude of those who are suppose to make the laws of this country.

Very well put squoosh That quote about women and sex is disgusting. If you hang around in most private school common rooms or Oxbridge SU "Stephen Fry"s are a dime a dozen and some of them might not be sexist.

He's charming but smarmy. Witty but not that intelligent. A hell of a public speaker but I get a feeling it's all scripted (no shame in this of course but people seem to think he's making it up as he goes along).

Don't think that I hate the guy, I don't (although the comments about sex and MP expenses scandal make me reconsider) I just think he is pretty average.

In summary, yes one hell of a PR team.

Gaaah! We can go around in circles on this one. The press has a habit of putting people on a pedestal and just as swiftly shredding them to pieces. Stephen Fry becoming the chattering class' darling, is due in no small part to this media engineering, even maybe aided by him no, I'm not a cynical bitch

In fact, I dont even object to self-promotion. More power to him, I say. Still doesnt change my opinion of him as meh..

YANBU he often presents his opinions as facts and people interpret them as such, he is one of of a bunch of annoying commedians (incl Eddie Izzard, Daire O'Briain etc) who have stopped being funny and started patronising the plebs by telling us what to think!

I hate the way they seem to feel this duty to better the little people with their wisdom

they're like the comedy version of Jamie Oliver (who thinks we all eat happy meals all day unless he introduces us to the concept of a carrot!)

YANBU

He is a decent raconteur, but everything else is smoke and mirrors. I recall that he did not do very well on Celebrity Mastermind, and on QI, he has the answers and information in front of him - he doesn't do the research himself, you know.

Also, I have served him in shops, and he was a bit surly (I judge people massively on how they treat customer service workers).

And whatyoulookingat try googling Stephen Fry Credit card jail. A couple of obscure references in the Mail. Nothing to write home about.

And no, I dont want Fry to be remembered as a fraudster. Far from it. But it looks like insidious air brushing. I hope I am wrong.

Let me reiterate. I did not say Fry was bad, he is just not THAT good

exactly badtime! with SF people forget that he's JUST the presenter! he's just the face/voice! his program about language was interesting, but it was interesting because of a good team of researchers and a well written script! he wasn't put on the spot and speaking off the top of his head!

badtime YY best ever way to get the measure of a man, really. How he treats someone who is below him socially.

LackingName You are spot on. I remember one of his language docs, where he was talking to a curator. You could almost hear him thinking, "ooh, ooh shall I throw in a pithy Latin phrase and show that I know more?" didnt seem very interested in what the curator showed him...

But another poster mentioned, he seemed quite engaged with the Madagascar prog. So maybe I was just unlucky in seeing that bit...

That thing about women not liking sex is crap, and really reductive and silly. I can't help feeling the reason many straight women don't go around having sex willy nilly (if you'll pardon the unfortunate phrase) might be a tad more complicated than that they just don't like it. But then I'm not a middle aged gay man, so what would I know about what straight women do and don't like?

Willy nilly

YABU

I am not one of those who places him, or any celeb, on a pedestal and see's them as akin to a godlike genius but I don't dislike him either.

I really like his books when I was younger, was a huge Blackadder fan and love Fry and Laurie (Damn damn and DAMN again)

QI I can take or leave but I do think he's a nice chap who doesn;t deserve to he 'hated' by anyone

I think the fact that you like Kathryn Jenkins says a lot though

And whats wrong with Katherine Jenkins?

Or did you mean that as a compliment?

In law, you are a child until you are 18 and any convictions earned as a child are then spent.
You're being too exacting in your search, Snow wide. A simple "Stephen Fry" will throw up his wikipedia page and it's all in detail on there.

Ummm..Wikipedia is not national press....

I also love his earlier comedy, as I loved eddie izzards earlier comedy, I just hate the current persona of master of all subjects - which he's not! he's a presenter! and just because he presents some very clever things which are well researched in advance he seems to feel qualified to present his opinion as well researched fact as well! Its patronising, and if I had a team of researchers and a public school voice I could sound just as clever, people think he actually KNOWS all this stuff?

...which brings us right back to my original post. Hallelujah!!

"try googling Stephen Fry Credit card jail. A couple of obscure references in the Mail. Nothing to write home about."

What exactly would you like though? A front page headline in The Guardian saying

"OI! JUST IN CASE YOU DIDN'T KNOW STEVEN FRY WAS ONCE A BIT OF A CUNT"

I think the way the press hound people and dig up their pasts is horrible, I can't begin to imagine actively wishing it upon someone.

He was very open about what he did in his autobiography and seemed very sorry about it all too.

*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. *

You're clearly not aware that I LIKE Stephen Fry (although I have made reference to his "avuncular joy" further up the thread). And you're right, it really isn't lighthearted at all to be talking about how shit someone is. Which was my point entirely.