Mavis Nicholson, BBC Radio 2, December 1996

This is an interview I did backstage at the King's Head Theatre, Upper Street, North London, immediately following a performance of Think No Evil of Us - My Life With Kenneth Williams, in December 1996. The show was still very new, just down from Edinburgh and I was overwhelmed at the response I was getting on this, its first London run: packed houses, great reviews and people wanting to interview me. At the age of 34 I had finally been discovered. I was thrilled and honoured to be interviewed by the great Mavis Nicholson, one of the best interviewers we have ever had on British radio or television. She had a canny knack of getting her subjects to relax and reveal more about themselves than so many other chat-show hosts, mostly because she knows how to listen as well as talk. I found that her unexpected questions and pointed follow-ups to answers I had already given disarmed and relaxed me, liberating my tongue. When the interview was over I knew I had been well and truly 'Mavissed"! I recall giving her a big hug and feeling that I had a friend for life. If only she did not live off in the Welsh valleys somewhere, I'd love to pop round to tea on a daily basis. Here you will find a great interview she did with Kenneth Williams in 1974, one of his best and most revealing: http://youtube.com/watch?v=kEwxfIrOKNs