Latest news with #MiriamMargolyes
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Harry Potter star Miriam Margolyes speaks out about JK Rowling's trans stance
Harry Potter star Miriam Margolyes has told Sky News she believes JK Rowling is "wrong about some things" when it comes to her stance on trans issues - but says it is also wrong for the author to be left out of "celebrations" for her famous books. Margolyes, who played Professor Sprout in the film series, said it was "fair enough" to criticise Rowling, who has been outspoken in her gender critical views. However, the 84-year-old actress said the backlash against the writer had become "unkind", and highlighted her absence from certain celebrations of the Harry Potter story. In 2022, Rowling did not appear in a 25th anniversary TV reunion featuring Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint, who starred in all of the films. All three stars have spoken out in support of the trans community. Speaking to Sky News presenter Wilfred Frost, Margolyes said: "I think everybody can be criticised, I think that's fair enough, but everybody's so horrid and nasty and unkind and I don't like that. "I don't want people to be unkind about trans... I mean, I'm a gay woman myself and you have to just put up with it. I don't know if [Rowling's] been badly treated but I think it was wrong that she wasn't invited to the celebrations for Harry Potter. You know, she created the whole thing. "She may be wrong about some things. And women's bodies are tremendously important - I love my body, even though it's fat and misshapen, and I wouldn't be a man for anything. But trans - who cares? Let's be kind, let's be inclusive. I think there's an awful lot of nonsense talked about it." Between 1997 and 2007, Rowling published seven Harry Potter books - which were turned into eight films between 2001 and 2011. The movies generated more than $7.7bn at the global box office. The author will be involved in the upcoming Harry Potter series. Margolyes said she does not know Rowling and has never met her, but praised her work and highlighted her series of crime novels, written under the pen name Robert Galbraith. "I salute her as a very great writer and I think I like the detective stories best," she told Frost. Read more: The actress spoke to Sky News as the patron of the Charles Dickens Museum, which this year celebrates its 100th anniversary. The museum is based at 48 Doughty Street, central London, where Dickens lived for two years and wrote works including Nicholas Nickleby and Oliver Twist. "A life was lived here," she said. "A great writer, and he belongs to all of us. And that's why I want people to come to this museum and enjoy it." During the interview, Margolyes also made her thoughts clear on artificial intelligence - an issue that many creatives are concerned about. "I loathe AI and everything connected with it," she said. "That is not about everybody sharing, it's about people stealing and lying, which is what goes on a great deal these days. No, AI is a very bad thing and I won't have anything to do with it - and I'm pretty sure that Mr Dickens would not like it either."
Sky News
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Sky News
Harry Potter star Miriam Margolyes speaks out about JK Rowling's trans stance
Harry Potter star Miriam Margolyes has told Sky News she believes JK Rowling is "wrong about some things" when it comes to her stance on trans issues - but says it is also wrong for the author to be left out of "celebrations" for her famous books. Margolyes, who played Professor Sprout in the film series, said it was "fair enough" to criticise Rowling, who has been outspoken in her gender critical views. However, the 84-year-old actress said the backlash against the writer had become "unkind", and highlighted her absence from certain celebrations of the Harry Potter story. In 2022, Rowling did not appear in a 25th anniversary TV reunion featuring Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint, who starred in all of the films. All three stars have spoken out in support of the trans community. Speaking to Sky News presenter Wilfred Frost, Margolyes said: "I think everybody can be criticised, I think that's fair enough, but everybody's so horrid and nasty and unkind and I don't like that. "I don't want people to be unkind about trans... I mean, I'm a gay woman myself and you have to just put up with it. I don't know if [Rowling's] been badly treated but I think it was wrong that she wasn't invited to the celebrations for Harry Potter. You know, she created the whole thing. "She may be wrong about some things. And women's bodies are tremendously important - I love my body, even though it's fat and misshapen, and I wouldn't be a man for anything. But trans - who cares? Let's be kind, let's be inclusive. I think there's an awful lot of nonsense talked about it." Between 1997 and 2007, Rowling published seven Harry Potter books - which were turned into eight films between 2001 and 2011. The movies generated more than $7.7bn at the global box office. The author will be involved in the upcoming Harry Potter series. Margolyes said she does not know Rowling and has never met her, but praised her work and highlighted her series of crime novels, written under the pen name Robert Galbraith. "I salute her as a very great writer and I think I like the detective stories best," she told Frost. The actress spoke to Sky News as the patron of the Charles Dickens Museum, which this year celebrates its 100th anniversary. The museum is based at 48 Doughty Street, central London, where Dickens lived for two years and wrote works including Nicholas Nickleby and Oliver Twist. "A life was lived here," she said. "A great writer, and he belongs to all of us. And that's why I want people to come to this museum and enjoy it." During the interview, Margolyes also made her thoughts clear on artificial intelligence - an issue that many creatives are concerned about. "I loathe AI and everything connected with it," she said. "That is not about everybody sharing, it's about people stealing and lying, which is what goes on a great deal these days. No, AI is a very bad thing and I won't have anything to do with it - and I'm pretty sure that Mr Dickens would not like it either."
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Scotsman
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Scotsman
18 household names in Edinburgh next month for the Fringe and TV festival - including Bob Geldof & Tina Fey
2 . Miriam Margolyes Having sold every ticket in 2024, the iconic award-winning actress, TV personality and author Miriam Margolyes returns to the Pleasance EICC at the Edinburgh Fringe for 14 dates from August 9-24, except the 18th and 21st, performing her 70 minute show at 6pm. She will have more characters, more Dickens, and more fascinating stories about the man behind the classics. At 84, Miriam's energy and passion are undimmed and her performance as electric as ever. She was Professor Sprout in Harry Potter, and also appeared in Yentl, Little Shop of Horrors, I Love You To Death, End of Days, Sunshine, Scorsese's The Age of Innocence, Cold Comfort Farm and Magnolia. Amongst her many awards, she won a BAFTA for Best Supporting Actress for The Age of Innocence and was awarded the OBE for her services to drama in 2002. Her most memorable TV credits include Old Flames, Freud, Life and Loves of a She Devil, Blackadder, The Girls of Slender Means, Oliver Twist, The History Man, Vanity Fair and Supply & Demand. | Steve Ullathorne Photo: Impressive PR
Telegraph
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
Bobby George: My amputated toe is preserved in vodka – I walk like a monkey!
We would probably all go a bit wild if we had the money to build our own mansion. Bobby George's lies just outside Colchester, and is the house that darts built. Or, more accurately, that George built. All 18 bedrooms of it. Before he made his living from sport, George laid concrete floors and dug the tunnels that became the Victoria line. Once he had the cash in the mid-1990s, George Hall took shape and it has all of the essential trappings for a house of its size. Three floors, fishing lakes and a fully-stocked bar behind which is his amputated toe, preserved in vodka. Sorry, what? 'My toe's been on American television, two doctors talking about it,' says George. It has been there for 20-odd years, but there has been a surge of interest since publication of George's new book – Still Here, his stock response to 'how are you?' as he closes in on 80. Any darts converts from the Luke Littler age would struggle to marry George's renown with his list of honours. He was runner-up in two world championships, both BDO, but was not invited to the breakaway PDC which now dominates. He was a showman in an otherwise dowdy era, but is best known now for his prolific reality TV work, appearing on everything from Celebrity Fit Club to four series of The Real Marigold Hotel with unlikely pal Miriam Margolyes. George's toe in vodka: Essex's oddest souvenir The toe had been causing him bother. During the quarter-finals of the 1994 BDO World Championship George won a set, jumped in celebration, and broke bones in his spine upon landing. He had to wear a steel corset to make it through his semi, miraculously won, before losing to John Part in the final. In the following years his toes began to cross over one another, making it hard to get his shoes on. The first to go now sits in a small glass jar, Essex's oddest souvenir. His doctor would not let him have it in formaldehyde but he was advised vodka would do the same job. Three more toes have come off since, but tragically George was not allowed to keep them. 'I walk like a monkey now, and when I get out of the shower I look like an orangutan. I wore my body out, I overdid it. But I don't regret it. Touch wood I haven't got any organ trouble, it's all bone structure.' Is it possible to live in an 18-bedroom mansion and wear so much jewellery your nickname is the King of Bling without being flash? Somehow George is pulling it off. The house is, by his own admission, over the top. But it feels like a home, his grandkids have begged him not to sell it. You do not detect the implied superiority common to many with a massive property. When I arrive he is down by his lakes, cleaning up after a charity fishing match for Macmillan Cancer Support the day before. His wife of nearly 40 years Marie lets me in, then locates George on the big screen in their kitchen which shows live footage from various CCTV cameras. Bobby arrives a few minutes later and is chivvied along by Marie as he has a cup of tea, rolls then smokes some Golden Virginia and puts his many bracelets and rings on from a bashed-up blue velvet box. 'I'm Robert now, I'll be Bobby George in a minute.' He is a equally irritated and invigorated by the constant to-do list. Cleaning pumps, getting weeds out, cutting trees, trimming bushes. 'It's all got to be done. The maintenance is a lot. Nature doesn't stop. You can do a nice job, leave it a month and it looks like you haven't done anything. I'm not exaggerating, I think I've got 18 hoovers. They're all lined up, like soldiers on parade. 'I've got a cherry picker, I don't go up my ladder, it's dangerous.' I spot a stairlift stationed at the bottom of the grand wooden staircase. 'I don't have to use it, but it takes the pressure off.' He has not made it easy for himself in some ways. There is a wood burner in the 60ft-long living room we sit in, alongside with the bar and full-sized snooker table. 'It's messy, it generates dust but it's worth it. You can sit round a fire and enjoy it, you can't sit around a radiator. I'd rather be f------ dusty than cold.' 'I felt like the Pope' There is a dartboard here too, does he ever play for pleasure? 'I done loads of that, nearly 50 years. Walking up and down, bang bang bang, nah I don't do that now.' He comes from a darting tradition as much about entertainment as victory. His career was built on exhibitions, nights of fun and trick shots with an MC around the country. Better, he thought, than competing for the era's often measly pots. 'There's two roads in darts, if you go down the tournament road there's only one winner. You'd go to Denmark for a tournament, pay for a flight, pay for a hotel for three nights and if you win you'd get £300 and a bunch of flowers. Who wants a bunch of flowers? I'd rather have £310. All that work to get a title, but you can't go in a shop and pay for something with a trophy, you've got to have the bees and honey.' 'I don't think Littler has much personality' These days he wonders if players feel the same duty to entertain. 'The fun has gone out of it a bit, 180 bang, boom boom boom. I think it's boring.' He also fears the presentational flair he brought to darts has spiralled. 'The crowds, it's horrendous the noise. But without them you're not going to have the prize money. The players have learnt to play under those conditions. 'It's probably my fault, I invented the music for walk-ons, dressing up with glitter and all that. It changed the game. I didn't think it would, I wouldn't have believed it. But without it now it would be boring. A lot of players didn't like it, they said it was a circus. But it is, it's a show. You don't want it to be like the military. So I wore sequins, and I got that from the ice skaters, I made a cloak. They gave me the candles. I felt like the Pope.' There is no posturing about the standard of darts in his time compared to now. 'The players of today would slaughter me. They're a good crew of young men, not big-headed, not show-offs. Michael van Gerwen calls me 'grandad' and 'silly old b------'. [Luke] Humphries is a lovely bloke.' What does he make of Luke Littler MBE? 'Good luck to him, it doesn't make you a better person though does it? You've got a handle behind your name, I want the handle in front of mine. Did you get that?' 'Sir?,' I ask. George pauses to shake my hand for understanding his joke, bracelets clinking rings in a golden jingle. 'I don't know the boy but I don't think he has got much personality yet. But I can't be nasty about him. It's a lot of pressure for a young man.' 'Farage ain't no mug' Nigel Farage invited George onto his Talking Pints series, seemingly forgiven after he backed Remain in 2016. He is a convert now. 'They think he's a drink, a laugh but he ain't no mug. He's sharp as anything. I'll vote for him. I think he'll get in, he might do alright, he can't be any worse than what we're doing now.' When Telegraph Sport last spoke to George three years ago he said he hated kids, but it may have been an exaggeration. There is obvious pride in how his sons with Marie, Richard and Robert, are forging their own path and delight that the grandkids have reached bantering age. Richard's son Edward wanted his chain fixed on his bicycle 'I said I'll do it in a minute. 'When are you going to do it?' I said look, I'm just having a cup of tea, I'll do it when I'm finished. 'When?', I said why don't you go and play with the buses on the A12? He's 10 now, he said 'grandad, there's no buses on the A12,' he done me up like a kipper. 'They're monkeys with no hair, anything that's breakable they're breaking, mate. Don't worry about that, they find a way. If you've got a hole in a chair they put a finger in and make it bigger. But the worst thing you can do is give them everything because they grow up thinking they're going to get it all the time. They've got to work.' 'Be lucky' He is philosophical about his advancing years. 'I'm getting near to the gates aren't I? I know I'm a nice bloke, coz I say to everyone else 'go on you go first,' and push them in front of me. I feel like sometimes I'm f------ worn out here. Then I look out there and it's f------ lovely. All the trees, all the wildlife, I've got goldfinches, linnets, jays, jackdaws, deer that run through the forest.' It is a vast difference from his upbringing by a single parent, his father, who was also blind. His mother died in George's infancy, but his is no hard-luck story. 'When I was young and we were really, really cold my grandad used to make us sit around a candle. When it got really really cold he used to light it.' It has been nearly 90 minutes but feels like it could go on in this vein for another 180. I have a (smaller) home to go to, so make my excuses. George shows me out, stressing that whatever I write must contain humour. I tell him it would be difficult for it not to. He waves me off towards the remote-control gates, swinging open as I approach with his farewell ringing out across the driveway: 'Be lucky.'
The Guardian
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Miriam Margolyes: ‘The closest I've come to death? When the media reported my imminent demise'
Born in Oxford, Miriam Margolyes, 84, began acting at Cambridge University. In 1994, she won a Bafta for her role in The Age of Innocence and was later cast as Professor Sprout in the Harry Potter films. Her stage credits include Wicked, The Vagina Monologues and Dickens' Women; her TV work includes Trollied and Blackadder. In 2002, she was made OBE, and in 2022 received a BBC Audio Drama lifetime achievement award. She takes Margolyes and Dickens: More Best Bits to the Edinburgh fringe at the Pleasance at EICC, Pentland theatre from 9-24 August. She lives in London. When were you happiest? On tour during Christmas vacation at Cambridge with its European Theatre Group, playing Shakespeare. I knew it was the best time of my life. What is your earliest memory? Handing my Aunt Muriel a freshly minted turd from my playpen. What is your greatest fear? To experience the utter powerlessness of locked-in syndrome. Describe yourself in three words Short. Fat. Jewish. What is the trait you most deplore in others? Selfishness. What is the trait you most deplore in yourself? Greed. What is your most treasured possession? My marble cupid, given to me by my mother. It is so perfectly balanced it can be turned with one finger, despite its great weight (unlike myself). Aside from property, what's the most expensive thing you've bought? Every time I got a lucrative voiceover, I bought a picture. The most expensive was by James Gillray. What makes you unhappy? The plight of Palestine. What do you most dislike about your appearance? My fat tummy. What scares you about getting older? Becoming doubly incontinent. What did you want to be when you were growing up? I wanted to be a doctor, like my father. What is the worst thing anyone's said to you? Glenda Jackson said I was an amateur during rehearsal for The White Devil at the Old Vic. I called her a cow, but that was inadequate. What was the last lie you told? The only time I ever lie is when I am given a meal at someone's house that has disappointed me. What is your guiltiest pleasure? Bendicks Bittermints. Sign up to Inside Saturday The only way to get a look behind the scenes of the Saturday magazine. Sign up to get the inside story from our top writers as well as all the must-read articles and columns, delivered to your inbox every weekend. after newsletter promotion To whom would you most like to say sorry, and why? To my mother for disappointing her. Mummy wanted me to be a different sort of person from who I am, but one can't change oneself. Who is the greatest love of your life? My partner, Heather. What has been your biggest disappointment? Never to have played at the National or the RSC. If not yourself, who would you most like to be? Queen Elizabeth I. She was witty and politically aware, and no one was successful in defeating her. What is the closest you've come to death? When the media, en masse, reported my imminent demise. What keeps you awake at night? Facebook and the need to pee. What happens when we die? Nothing at all.
