Beethoven banishes Fry’s dark thoughts
STEPHEN Fry has revealed that Beethoven helped him over- come suicidal thoughts after he attempted to take his life.
The comedian and actor says the composer’s music eased his battle with depression.
Fry, 62, explained: “There is a healing quality to listening to it that actually helps – when combined with not drinking too much and walking and eating properly and all the other things that help one’s mental health as well as one’s physical health.
“One of the ways I cope with it is to bathe myself in music, like Beethoven’s, and to think of people who have gone before me who have been lit by the
Tom Bryant
flame of mania and danced by the icy water of depression.”
Fry has spoken previously about how he attempted suicide in 2012 while filming abroad.
He revealed in 2013 how he “took a huge number of pills and a huge amount of vodka” and left his producer to find him in an “unconscious state”.
Fry, who has bipolar disorder, also opened up about his troubles in the podcast The Art Of Change: Nothing Concrete.
He said: “Inside, you do just not see the point of anything.
“Nothing has flavour or savour. Nothing has any meaning. Everything is just hopeless. There is no sense of future. You have to hope that something will stop you.
“In my case, it was just failed attempts. It is in the recovery you find that flavour and life is colour again.
Cancer
“Beethoven is a perfect example of someone who brings that colour back to you quicker than almost anything else.”
Fry, who lives in Norfolk and has been married to Elliott Spencer since 2015, believes theatres are unlikely to be back in action soon, adding that these are “dark times indeed” for the performing arts.
He said: “I cannot see theatres opening to live audiences before next year. Perhaps March or April, a year after lockdown.”
Fry revealed in a 12-minute YouTube video in February 2018 that he was suffering from prostate cancer, described as an “unwelcome adventure”.
He detailed his treatment, but it was “thankfully caught in time” and he is now cancer-free.
That announcement, followed shortly by the ex-BBC presenter Bill Turnbull revealing he had the same disease, led to a surge in people getting tested, called the “Fry and Turnbull effect”.
News Reporter
IT IS the kind of culinary calamity that could happen to any home cook.
Masterchef’s John Torode faced a kitchen nightmare while in the middle of mixing a thick red concoction he calls Mr John’s Sauce.
His partner Lisa Faulkner was filming him and joked the recipe was so good it would go global.
But when the top came off his blender it left the sauce splattered across the kitchen.
Flipping the camera around to show viewers their kitchen, Lisa revealed: “Johno had a bit of an accident.
“His Mr John’s sauce is all over the floor walls lights ceiling you name it... it’s there!!”
Even their dog Rory got in on the act, running into the kitchen and licking up the disaster from the floor. Lisa revealed the mixture had even splattered a portrait of Rory.
Fire
John’s latest disaster comes just two weeks after he set fire to his kitchen during a live stream from home for a cooking slot on This Morning.
He was making his own version of a McMuffin when a tea towel caught fire.
Hosts Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby were left stunned shouting: “John! Your tea towel is on fire! Behind you, behind you, John!” He remained oblivious, and when he finally realised what was happening simply said: “Oh, thank you,” as he placed the flaming tea towel into the sink.
A shocked Holly responded: “Oh my gosh, are you OK? You were so calm about that.”
So at least one thing in the kitchen kept its cool.