CELEBRATING MY AGE

I wasn’t worried about turning 50, and, actually, it felt great when I did. I threw a whopping party, and my close friends and family did a re-enactment of the Stonehenge number from This Is Spinal Tap. It was one of the top-five moments of my life – two births, getting married, meeting Perks [Sue Perkins] (that’s got to be up there), and Stonehenge. It was amazing. Sue was on the bass; she’s never played it before and she learnt the part on holiday. And she nailed it. She picks up stuff so quickly. Literally, you could just tell her, ‘Learn the harp and I want you to play in a concert tomorrow,’ and she’d do it. So annoying.

I was worried that Sue was going to prank me because I pranked her quite badly on her 30th with a gorillagram. I got away with it for my 40th, and I thought if I went for a big 50th she’s going to pull something really bad out of the bag. I think I got away with it. But she’s 50 next year…

A little bit more exercise is occurring

now that I’ve turned 50. I’ve always been a massive devotee of aqua aerobics, and I’m obsessed with our class. Everyone is so delightful. I love them all. People think it’s just a bunch of middle-aged women like hippos at a watering hole. To those naysayers, I say come and try a class. If you don’t make any effort, and you just kind of waft around, it will do absolutely nothing but if you really, really go for it, it’s incredible. You step out of the pool and you just feel mentally and physically amazing. I recommend it.