Stephen Fry

My journey with Stephen Fry and Wagner

I'm approaching the end of a journey which began nearly three years ago. In summer 2007, my company, Wavelength Films, was lucky enough to be working with Stephen Fry on a film for BBC Four about Johannes Gutenberg - the man who invented printing.

As we travelled through Germany in quest of that elusive medieval genius we found ourselves on a twisting road which ran alongside of the river Rhine. In the backseat of the crew vehicle Stephen was plugged into his iPod when a mysterious sound filled the van.

Stephen Fry to judge Hay festival's Twitter competition

This year's Guardian Hay festival will include an award, judged by Stephen Fry, for 'the most beautiful tweet' ever written.

Stephen Fry ad to promote radio 'scrappage' scheme

Month-long part-exchange offer to aid digital radio switchover to be backed with campaign involving commercial radio and BBC.

Stephen Fry to have surgery on 'troublesome' tooth

Stephen Fry, the comedian, is due to undergo surgery for a troublesome tooth.

As this week's QI repeat proved, David Mitchell is obviously one of the smartest and funniest men on TV at the moment, and is probably the inheritor of Stephen Fry's mantel. So what the hell was he doing on this? Charlie Brooker was great, of course, as was Mitchell, but Jimmy Carr filled time by making jokes about Gordon Brown's eye and Lauren Laverne was just using up valuable oxygen the whole time. Oh dear.

Ricky Gervais on The Ricky Gervais Show

'You don't want to hear two people trying to be Stephen Fry'

I've taken a while to get round to this panel game, and can hardly believe it has already embarked on its fifth series, yet it does seem curiously appropriate to our times. Whereas a format like Just a Minute relies on old-fashioned verbal fluency, the success of this show, developed by Graeme Garden, rests on the modern taste for factoids coupled with our newfound habit of subjecting everything we hear to a kind of plausibility pre-screening.

The likeable David Mitchell, who has managed in a very short time to step into Stephen Fry's commodious shoes, rules with a kind of brainy decency and surely has Radio 4 engraved on his heart. But the result is quirky rather than hilarious.

Up for discussion were beer, babies and spiders and among the diverting facts that emerged were that "most babies cry in the key of A", that Germany has a unique species of flea that is only found near beer-mats, and that Isaac Newton's only reported speech in the House of Commons as an MP was to ask someone to close the window.

Some of the alleged truths seemed a bit suspect to me, though. A spider is the only animal that sleeps on its back, for example. What about my cat, as I and a lot of other listeners protested? Then again, these truths are probably as reliable as anything else you'll hear this side of a general election.

With his hangdog expression and fruity Edinburgh burr Alastair Sim created numerous whimsical characters during a career on stage and screen that spanned more than 40 years - perhaps none more memorable than the creepily convincing Miss Fritton, headmistress in the St Trinian's films. This 1997 profile celebrates his achievements and speaks to his widow Naomi Plaskitt (Sim died in 1976), as well as hearing from friends, co-stars and admirers, including George Cole, Stephen Fry, Ian McKellen, Patricia Routledge and Nigel Hawthorne.

Fry: 'My love of Wagner is tearing me apart'

Stephen Fry is to discuss his complex feelings towards the composer on BBC4, writes Ian Burrell.

Stephen Fry gets operatic for BBC4 Wagner film

Channel unveils lineup for spring and summer, which includes series on satire and Christopher Eccleston in John Lennon film.