Stephen Fry

BBC comedy training? That's certainly not funny

It has been quite a week for the people in charge of international relations at the BBC.

First there was Richard Hammond apparently offending Mexico - not any specific Mexican, but the entire nation, even the cacti - with a joke on Top Gear.

Now we hear that Stephen Fry has been prevented from filming in Japan because of comments made on the comedy quiz show that he chairs, QI.

The Beeb, as is their wont, has bent over backwards to apologise to both nations. Quite why is anyone's guess.

Stephen Fry made honorary doctor at Sussex Uni

Actor and broadcaster Stephen Fry has been given an honorary doctorate at the University of Sussex.

Fry to collect honorary degree from Sussex University

Stephen Fry will join a record number of graduating students tomorrow.

The writer and comedian will collect an honorary degree from the University of Sussex at its winter graduation ceremony at Brighton Dome.

BBC sorry for jokes about atom bomb survivor

The BBC has apologised to Japan for an episode of the comedy quiz QI in which Stephen Fry joked about an old man who survived both the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Comedians aim to raise a packet

Four of Britain's best loved comics - Stephen Fry, Jimmy Carr, Al Murray and Frank Skinner - are each fronting new limited edition flavours of Walker's crisps in a bid to raise £1m for Comic Relief.

Fry says 'no quick sell out' for first start-up

Writer and comedian Stephen Fry says he has ''ambition to get a quick valuation and sell out' after backing his first technology start-up, internet commenting service Pushnote.

Students lobby for Stephen Fry as chancellor

Nominations will close next month in the search for a new university chancellor.

Durham University has set a deadline of January 20 for candidates to succeed writer Bill Bryson for the post, with staff and students invited to make nominations on the university's website.

The set is bedecked with ivy and gargolyles; Stephen Fry has a fez on; his four guests are wearing hooded capes. It's all because tonight, H is for hocus-pocus, a magic-themed Christmas special with the most famous wizard of them all, Daniel Radcliffe, joining the ranks of naughty pupils trying to second guess Professor Fry's fascinating facts. The show nearly comes off the rails when Lee Mack, on brilliant form, has a spelling-related set-to with the host. "Are you incapable of rational thought?" wails Fry, "You can't be that stupid!" Mack's punishment is to end the show sawn in half by Alan Davies (Radcliffe suffers worse), but before then we discover what the word "muggle" originally meant, and hear an intriguing theory about cracker jokes.

The way Stephen Fry's turned out, who would have thought he was a precocious blighter cheekier than a building site in summer? You'd have thought teachers would have adored a pupil who could correct them all the time. Yet that wasn't the case, as this fine comedy set in a 1960s boarding school finds a young Fry (Daniel Roche, monopolising the cheeky posh boy roles now that he's the lead in Just William, too) in bother with his headmaster (Stephen Fry). Disappointed with the tuck shop offerings, young Fry heads further afield to procure fresh sugary supplies, but when he's caught getting sweets from the village, he's faced with a choice - will he 'fess up, or use new boy Bunce as a patsy?

Little Crackers review: Short and Sweet

Obviously Stephen Fry and Kathy Burke deserve much credit for their excellent work, but knocking up short scripts like these shouldn't have been too demanding for such talented thespians. The real credit should probably go to Sky for commissioning this original format.