Russell_Brand


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Internet activist Aaron Swartz helped build many of the web technologies many of us rely on every day, and he didn't do it to enrich himself. But the U.S. government literally scared him to death by threatening him with 35 years in prison--just for engaging in civil disobedience for the open information movement. Aaron committed suicide last month, but let's not let his death be in vain. [Read more]

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Some of the celebrities, politicians and world leaders invited to Margaret Thatcher's funeral

 
 
Ten staff of The Ritz hotel in London where Baroness Thatcher died have been invited as thanks for the care the former Prime Minister received in her final days (PA)
 
 
12. Ten staff of The Ritz hotel in London where Baroness Thatcher died have been invited as thanks for the care the former Prime Minister received in her final days (PA)
 
Lord and Lady Lloyd Webber have been invited to attend the funeral (PA)
 
11. Lord and Lady Lloyd Webber have been invited to attend the funeral (PA)
 
 
Prime Minister David Cameron, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and the Leader of the Opposition Ed Miliband are all expected to attend. All Cabinet members are invited - however Shadow Cabinet is not
10. Prime Minister David Cameron, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and the Leader of the Opposition Ed Miliband are all expected to attend. All Cabinet members are invited - however Shadow Cabinet is not (PA)
 
Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown and his wife Sarah will attend Thatcher's funeral (PA)
 
9.  Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown and his wife Sarah will attend Thatcher's funeral (PA)
 
 
Dame Lady Mary Archer and Jeffrey Archer are both invited (Eddie Mulholland / Rex Features)
8. Dame Lady Mary Archer and Jeffrey Archer are both invited (Eddie Mulholland / Rex Features)
 
 
 
7. Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is expected to attend (Reuters)
Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is expected to attend (Reuters)
 
7. Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is expected to attend (Reuters)
 
The last president of apartheid South Africa, FW De Klerk (right) will be attending. The Nobel Peace Prize Winner, freed fellow Nobel Prize Winner Nelson Mandela (left) from Robben Island and helped e
 
6. The last president of apartheid South Africa, FW De Klerk (right) will be attending. The Nobel Peace Prize Winner, freed fellow Nobel Prize Winner Nelson Mandela (left) from Robben Island and helped end racial segregation in the country. A representative of Nelson Mandela will also attend in the former President's stead (AP Photo/Obed Zilwa).
 
Dame Shirley Bassey will be attending (Matt Baron/BEI / Rex Features)
 
5. Dame Shirley Bassey will be attending (Matt Baron/BEI / Rex Features)
 
Barack and Michelle Obama are expected to attend and all living former Presidents have been invited (PA)
 
4. Barack and Michelle Obama are expected to attend and all living former Presidents have been invited (PA)
 
The Queen and her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, will attend Thatcher's funeral in a mark of respect. The only time the Queen has attended the funeral of a former Prime Minister was for Winston Churc
3.  The Queen and her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, will attend Thatcher's funeral in a mark of respect. The only time the Queen has attended the funeral of a former Prime Minister was for Winston Churchill in 1965 (PA)
 
 
Tony and Cherie Blair are pictured with Baroness Thatcher during a church service to mark the 25th anniversary of the Falklands Island conflict. The former Labour Prime Minister is due to attend the f
2. Tony and Cherie Blair are pictured with Baroness Thatcher during a church service to mark the 25th anniversary of the Falklands Island conflict. The former Labour Prime Minister is due to attend the funeral with his wife (PA)
 
 
Jeremy Clarkson, from 'Top Gear' is invited (Nils Jorgensen / Rex Features)
1.  Jeremy Clarkson, from 'Top Gear' is invited (Nils Jorgensen / Rex Features)





Russell Brand on Margaret Thatcher: 'I always felt sorry for her children'

Russell Brand
Actor
Russell Edward Brand is an English comedian, actor, and author. In 2004, Brand achieved mainstream fame in the UK as the host of Big Brother's Big Mouth, a Big Brother spin-off. In 2007, he had his first major film role in St Trinian's. Wikipedia
Margaret Thatcher, the year she became leader of the Conservatives
Margaret Thatcher, the year she became leader of the Conservatives, and the year Russell Brand was born. Photograph: Keystone France
The actor and comedian recalls a bizarre recent encounter with the Iron Lady, and how it prompted him to think about growing up under the most unlikely matriarch-figure imaginable..
 
One Sunday recently while staying in London, I took a stroll in the gardens of Temple, the insular clod of quads and offices between the Strand and the Embankment. It's kind of a luxury rent-controlled ghetto for lawyers and barristers, and there is a beautiful tailors, a fine chapel, established by the Knights Templar (from which the compound takes its name), a twee cottage designed by Sir Christopher Wren and a rose garden; which I never promised you.
My mate John and I were wandering there together, he expertly proselytising on the architecture and the history of the place, me pretending to be Rumpole of the Bailey (quietly in my mind), when we spied in the distant garden a hunched and frail figure, in a raincoat, scarf about her head, watering the roses under the breezy supervision of a masticating copper. "What's going on there, mate?" John asked a nearby chippy loading his white van. "Maggie Thatcher," he said. "Comes here every week to water them flowers." The three of us watched as the gentle horticultural ritual was feebly enacted, then regarded the Iron Lady being helped into the back of a car and trundling off. In this moment she inspired only curiosity, a pale phantom, dumbly filling her day. None present eyed her meanly or spoke with vitriol and it wasn't until an hour later that I dreamt up an Ealing comedy-style caper in which two inept crooks kidnap Thatcher from the garden but are unable to cope with the demands of dealing with her, and finally give her back. This reverie only occurred when the car was out of view. In her diminished presence I stared like an amateur astronomer unable to describe my awe at this distant phenomenon.
When I was a kid, Thatcher was the headmistress of our country. Her voice, a bellicose yawn, somehow both boring and boring – I could ignore the content but the intent drilled its way in. She became leader of the Conservatives the year I was born and prime minister when I was four. She remained in power till I was 15. I am, it's safe to say, one of Thatcher's children. How then do I feel on the day of this matriarchal mourning?
I grew up in Essex with a single mum and a go-getter Dagenham dad. I don't know if they ever voted for her, I don't know if they liked her. My dad, I suspect, did. He had enough Del Boy about him to admire her coiffured virility – but in a way Thatcher was so omnipotent; so omnipresent, so omni-everything that all opinion was redundant.
As I scan the statements of my memory bank for early deposits (it'd be a kid's memory bank account at a neurological NatWest where you're encouraged to become a greedy little capitalist with an escalating family of porcelain pigs), I see her in her hairy helmet, condescending on Nationwide, eviscerating eunuch MPs and baffled BBC fuddy duddies with her General Zodd stare and coldly condemning the IRA. And the miners. And the single mums. The dockers. The poll-tax rioters. The Brixton rioters, the Argentinians, teachers; everyone actually.
Margaret Thatcher visits Falkland Islands Margaret Thatcher visiting British troops on the Falkland Islands in 1983: the war was a turning point in her premiership. Photograph: taken from picture library
Thinking about it now, when I was a child she was just a strict woman telling everyone off and selling everything off. I didn't know what to think of this fearsome woman.
Perhaps my early apathy and indifference are a result of what Thatcher deliberately engendered, the idea that "there is no such thing as society", that we are alone on our journey through life, solitary atoms of consciousness. Or perhaps it was just because I was a little kid and more interested in them Weetabix skinheads, Roland Rat and Knight Rider. Either way, I'm an adult now and none of those things are on telly any more so there's no excuse for apathy.
When John Lennon was told of Elvis Presley's death, he famously responded: "Elvis died when he joined the army," meaning of course, that his combat clothing and clipped hair signalled the demise of the thrusting, Dionysian revolution of which he was the immaculate emblem.
When I awoke today on LA time my phone was full of impertinent digital eulogies. It'd be disingenuous to omit that there were a fair number of ding-dong-style celebratory messages amidst the pensive reflections on the end of an era. Interestingly, one mate of mine, a proper leftie, in his heyday all Red Wedge and right-on punch-ups, was melancholy. "I thought I'd be overjoyed, but really it's just … another one bites the dust …" This demonstrates, I suppose, that if you opposed Thatcher's ideas it was likely because of their lack of compassion, which is really just a word for love. If love is something you cherish, it is hard to glean much joy from death, even in one's enemies.
Perhaps, though, Thatcher "the monster" didn't die yesterday from a stroke, perhaps that Thatcher died as she sobbed self-pitying tears as she was driven, defeated, from Downing Street, ousted by her own party. By then, 1990, I was 15, adolescent and instinctively anti-establishment enough to regard her disdainfully. I'd unthinkingly imbibed enough doctrine to know that, troubled as I was, there was little point looking elsewhere for support. I was on my own. We are all on our own. Norman Tebbit, one of Thatcher's acolytes and fellow "Munsters evacuee", said when the National Union of Mineworkers eventually succumbed to the military onslaught and starvation over which she presided: "We didn't just break the strike, we broke the spell." The spell he was referring to is the unseen bond that connects us all and prevents us from being subjugated by tyranny. The spell of community.
Those strikes were confusing to me as a child. All of the Tory edicts that bludgeoned our nation, as my generation squirmed through ghoulish puberty, were confusing. When all the public amenities were flogged, the adverts made it seem to my childish eyes fun and positive, jaunty slogans and affable British stereotypes jostling about in villages, selling people companies that they'd already paid for through tax. I just now watched the British Gas one again. It's like a whimsical live-action episode of Postman Pat where his cat is craftily carved up and sold back to him.
The Orgreave miners' strike in 1984. The Orgreave miners' strike in 1984. Photograph: Alamy
"The News" was the pompous conduit through which we suckled at the barren baroness through newscaster wet-nurses, naturally; not direct from the steel teat. Jan Leeming, Sue Lawley, Moira Stuart – delivering doctrine with sterile sexiness, like a butterscotch-scented beige vapour. To use a less bizarre analogy: if Thatcher was the headmistress, they were junior teachers, authoritative but warm enough that you could call them "mum" by accident. You could never call Margaret Mother by mistake. For a national matriarch she is oddly unmaternal. I always felt a bit sorry for her biological children Mark and Carol, wondering from whom they would get their cuddles. "Thatcher as mother" seemed, to my tiddly mind, anathema. How could anyone who was so resolutely Margaret Thatcher be anything else? In the Meryl Streep film, The Iron Lady, it's the scenes of domesticity that appear most absurd. Knocking up a flan for Denis or helping Carol with her algebra or Mark with his gun-running, are jarring distractions from the main narrative; woman as warrior queen.
It always struck me as peculiar, too, when the Spice Girls briefly championed Thatcher as an early example of girl power. I don't see that. She is an anomaly; a product of the freak-onomy of her time. Barack Obama, interestingly, said in his statement that she had "broken the glass ceiling for other women". Only in the sense that all the women beneath her were blinded by falling shards. She is an icon of individualism, not of feminism.
I have few recollections of Thatcher after the slowly chauffeured, weepy Downing Street cortege. I'd become a delinquent, living on heroin and benefit fraud.
There were sporadic resurrections. She would appear in public to drape a hankie over a model BA plane tailfin because she disliked the unpatriotic logo with which they'd replaced the union flag (maybe don't privatise BA then), or to shuffle about some country pile arm in arm with a doddery Pinochet and tell us all what a fine fellow he was. It always irks when rightwing folk demonstrate in a familial or exclusive setting the values that they deny in a broader social context. They're happy to share big windfall bonuses with their cronies, they'll stick up for deposed dictator chums when they're down on their luck, they'll find opportunities in business for people they care about. I hope I'm not being reductive but it seems Thatcher's time in power was solely spent diminishing the resources of those who had least for the advancement of those who had most. I know from my own indulgence in selfish behaviour that it's much easier to get what you want if you remove from consideration the effect your actions will have on others.
Is that what made her so formidable, her ability to ignore the suffering of others? Given the nature of her legacy "survival of the fittest" – a phrase that Darwin himself only used twice in On the Origin of Species, compared to hundreds of references to altruism, love and cooperation, it isn't surprising that there are parties tonight in Liverpool, Glasgow and Brixton – from where are they to have learned compassion and forgiveness?
The blunt, pathetic reality today is that a little old lady has died, who in the winter of her life had to water roses alone under police supervision. If you behave like there's no such thing as society, in the end there isn't. Her death must be sad for the handful of people she was nice to and the rich people who got richer under her stewardship. It isn't sad for anyone else. There are pangs of nostalgia, yes, because for me she's all tied up with Hi-De-Hi and Speak and Spell and Blockbusters and "follow the bear". What is more troubling is my inability to ascertain where my own selfishness ends and her neo-liberal inculcation begins. All of us that grew up under Thatcher were taught that it is good to be selfish, that other people's pain is not your problem, that pain is in fact a weakness and suffering is deserved and shameful. Perhaps there is resentment because the clemency and respect that are being mawkishly displayed now by some and haughtily demanded of the rest of us at the impending, solemn ceremonial funeral, are values that her government and policies sought to annihilate.
I can't articulate with the skill of either of "the Marks" – Steel or Thomas – why Thatcher and Thatcherism were so bad for Britain but I do recall that even to a child her demeanour and every discernible action seemed to be to the detriment of our national spirit and identity. Her refusal to stand against apartheid, her civil war against the unions, her aggression towards our neighbours in Ireland and a taxation system that was devised in the dark ages, the bombing of a retreating ship – it's just not British.
I do not yet know what effect Margaret Thatcher has had on me as an individual or on the character of our country as we continue to evolve. As a child she unnerved me but we are not children now and we are free to choose our own ethical codes and leaders that reflect them.
 
 

Russell Brand - what the hell do you know about Margaret Thatcher's mothering skills?

Margaret Thatcher's mothering skills have been called into question by Russell Brand. Apparently a woman can't dole out cuddles to her children at home and be a 'warrior queen' in the workplace. Get with the times, writes Emma Barnett.

Margaret Thatcher with her twins, Carol and Mark Photo: Daily Telegraph#
 
Emma Barnett
By Emma Barnett, Women's Editor 10 Apr 2013
 
Emma Barnett
By Emma Barnett, Women's Editor
4:16PM BST 10 Apr 2013
Well Carol and Mark Thatcher must be feeling a heck of a lot better now. Russell Brand, yes that greasy-haired leering man the BBC once rapped the knuckles of, has offered his sympathy to them.
What with it only being two days after their mother suffered a stroke and died, dear reader you could be forgiven for assuming Brand was offering his condolences during a rambling (albeit pretty well-written) post on The Guardian’s Comment is Free section. However, you would be wrong.
Instead, a loose-lipped Brand is telling the world how he has always pitied Baroness Thatcher’s children, for simply being her offspring. In the last 48 hours, since the Iron Lady’s death was announced, I have had many a strip torn off me on national TV, radio and of course on Twitter, for daring to suggest that Lady Thatcher was a feminist icon – whether she liked it or not.
And unlike the spineless ‘Ginger Spice’, Geri Halliwell, who deleted her respectful tweet marking Britain’s only female Prime Minister’s death (post a torrent of digital hate), I have continued to advance my position – abuse and all.
But thankfully, during all of my spirited debates on this topic, I am happy to report that no one has dragged up Lady Thatcher’s mothering skills as a point of contention. In fact, one thing people have in common on both sides of the Thatcher divide, is they wish to discuss her politics and legacy – not her ability to parent.
Moreover, the one thing even the most left-wing feminists cannot disagree with, is just how much Lady Thatcher is being remembered for being a Prime Minister (not a female Prime Minister) and her political decisions, as opposed to how she managed to ‘have it all’.
However, Brand just suitably lowered the tone with his contribution – something he is a pro at. He writes: “For a national matriarch she [was] oddly unmaternal. I always felt a bit sorry for her biological children Mark and Carol, wondering from whom they would get their cuddles.
“"Thatcher as mother" seemed, to my tiddly mind, anathema. How could anyone who was so resolutely Margaret Thatcher be anything else? In the Meryl Streep film, The Iron Lady, it's the scenes of domesticity that appear most absurd. Knocking up a flan for Denis or helping Carol with her algebra or Mark with his gun-running, are jarring distractions from the main narrative; woman as warrior queen.”
Well I hate to break it to you Russell, but warrior queens can also be good mothers. And those women doing full-time jobs up and down the country, and then coming home and knocking up their significant other a flan, while tending to the children’s homework, would beg to differ with your cheap summation.
As my Telegraph colleague, Judith Woods, writes today: “the outside world meddles in family dynamics at its peril. Lady Thatcher was a pioneering politician and a working mother before the term had even been properly coined”.
Only she, Denis (her beloved husband of 52 years), Carol and Mark have the right and knowledge to comment on her capacity as a mother. And even then, it’s not really any of our business – as much as we enjoy prying on famous people’s private lives.
Tony Blair is another hugely controversial British Prime Minister – and yet at no point when his political decisions are hotly debated, does anyone opine whether they felt sorry for his large brood in some dire need of cuddles – while he waged war in Iraq.
We need to move beyond the idea that a tough woman in the workplace cannot be a loving person in the privacy of her own home. While Brand is feigning an odd concern for where Carol and Mark Thatcher got their cuddles from, he could also do with updating his views of women’s multifaceted natures.

Related Articles

Margaret Thatcher: 'Yes, I wish I saw more of my children. But I can’t regret’

Lady Thatcher was seen by colleagues as a 'caring and loving’ mother – but the pressures of her role had a far-reaching impact on her family

Margaret Thatcher with her twins, Carol and Mark Photo: Daily Telegraph
Judith Woods
By Judith Woods 09 Apr 2013
 
When Margaret Thatcher came to power in 1979, she crisply observed: “Any woman who understands the problems of running a home will be nearer to understanding the problems of running a country.”
Viewed through the refracting prism of political life today, such remarks seem old-fashioned, naïve – laughable, even. Redolent as they are of maternal homeliness and domestic prudence, they are the sort of un-PC sentiments that would make any modern female politician, drilled in the stubborn dogma (some would say myth) of Westminster egalitarianism, wince.
But, as it transpired, Baroness Thatcher really was a new broom, sweeping through the nation determined to diligently balance budgets, declutter sclerotic national industries, and make Britain once again fit for purpose.
She saw no shame in making mention of her roles as wife and mother as well as leader; there are precious few MPs today whose first television interview would be conducted with their six-year-old twins sitting on the arm of the chair. But while her incontrovertible legacy as prime minister is in no doubt, her family life is more opaque.
Certainly, her marriage was a happy one. She met and married her husband Denis, a wealthy, divorced businessman, in 1951. From the outset he was aware of her fierce ambition and, easygoing by nature, was happy to pursue his business interests under the media radar.
Paradoxically, his portrayal as a gin-soaked reactionary in the Dear Bill letters of Private Eye worked in his favour, according to the couple’s daughter, Carol. Pigeonholed in public perceptions as a harmless buffoon, he didn’t distract or indeed detract from his wife’s high profile.
Carol and her twin, Mark, were born in 1953, when their mother was 27. Having studied chemistry at Oxford, she was training to be a barrister when she became pregnant, but with typical resoluteness, posted off her exam application from the hospital ward so as to ensure that she would qualify for the Bar. The family lived in Chelsea and the twins were installed in the nanny’s room – something that wasn’t unusual, given their wealth and status.
Within six years, Margaret had, by dint of talent and determination, entered an exceedingly male-dominated Parliament. After her barnstorming maiden speech in 1960, the aforementioned BBC interview took place with her twins. When her suitability for a front-bench career was mooted, she demurred. “Certainly until these two are a little older I couldn’t take on any more political responsibilities,” she said, and it was a decade before she became Education Secretary in the Heath government.
From the outset, Carol and Mark were very different. But Carol, now 59, has been outspoken about what she perceived as overt favouritism towards her brother, the elder twin by two minutes: “Mark was certainly the star.”
Yet in her book A Swim-On Part in the Goldfish Bowl, she depicts a traditional, even-handed childhood; her mother filling rolls for picnics and taking pains to personally wallpaper her children’s rooms. There were riding lessons and ski trips. Lady Thatcher’s press secretary, Bernard Ingham, recalls: “She’d often say 'weekends are for the family’”, and while he concedes that she was not a conventional parent, “she was certainly a caring and loving mother”.
But Carol has written: “As a child I was frightened of her. I always felt I came second of the two. Unloved is not the right word, but I never felt I made the grade.” Mark was sent to boarding school at the age of eight and Carol claims she was dispatched to prep school a year later as “there wasn’t much point in running a household for one child”.
She recently revealed in a BBC documentary that: “All my childhood memories of my mother were just someone who was superwoman before the phrase had been invented. She was always flat out, she never relaxed, household chores were done at breakneck speed in order to get back to the parliamentary correspondence or get on with making up a speech.
“You couldn’t distract her… she had tunnel vision in term of what ever she was doing.”
Carol, who was easily the brighter of the twins, may not have been close to her mother, but onlookers say her inference that she was somehow loved less did not chime with reality.
Former Cabinet minister Jonathan Aitken had a relationship with Carol when he was a fledgling MP and she was in her early twenties. He remembers that once, when the couple’s planned holiday was jeopardised by a three-line whip, requiring all Tory MPs to vote, Mrs Thatcher (then leader of the Opposition) quietly rearranged parliamentary business so as not to disappoint her daughter.
Carol went on to study law, then moved to Australia. She established a successful media career, although after splitting from Aitken she did not go on to marry or have children.
“I’ve written books. I won I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!, but nobody will ever know me for being anything other than Margaret Thatcher’s daughter, so at the end of the day whatever I did was never good enough,” was her bruising verdict. It’s a painfully harsh judgment, but one, it must be remembered, that she makes on herself. It’s impossible to know whether her self-esteem issues stem from nature or nurture.
Mark, meanwhile, was not so prone to self-doubt. Having failed his accountancy exams, he gained something of a reputation as a playboy. When he went missing for six days in 1982 in the Sahara while driving in the Paris-Dakar rally, his mother was beside herself.
By the late Eighties he was a wealthy businessman – something that has puzzled commentators. Although there has never been any implication of financial impropriety, the consensus seems to be that, at some level, he enjoyed the benefit of his connections. His first marriage ended in divorce. His children, Amanda and Michael, live in Texas, with their mother, Diane, while he lives in Spain with his second wife.
He gained notoriety for his role in an attempted coup in Equatorial Guinea; his co-conspirator, Simon Mann, was sent to jail, but he plea-bargained and received a four-year suspended jail sentence and a fine.
“I see him. We maintain contact,” his sister says of their relationship. “We do not have Sunday lunch together, not like other families. But then we never did. Just because you’re related it doesn’t necessarily mean you see a lot of them. You need to have something in common.”
Perhaps it was this ongoing iciness that prompted Lady Thatcher to comment at a meeting with Tory grandee Lord Spicer in April 1995: “If I had my time again, I wouldn’t go into politics because of what it does to your family.”
This shocking admission was revealed in a set of diaries by Lord Spicer published in The Sunday Telegraph last year, but whether it was an off-the-cuff comment or a sincerely held belief isn’t known.
Subsequently, she told Saga magazine, in more measured tones: “Look, you can’t have everything. It has been the greatest privilege being prime minister of my country… Yes, I wish I saw more of my children. We don’t have Sunday lunch together; we don’t go on holiday skiing any more. But I can’t regret. And I haven’t lost my children. They have their lives. I took a different life.”
Lady Thatcher was devastated in 2003 by the death of Denis after 52 years of marriage. And in recent years, as her health deteriorated, friends observed that her children did not visit as often as they might.
Asked about her mother’s complaints of not seeing her grandchildren more often, Carol’s response was unflinching. “A mother cannot reasonably expect her grown-up children to boomerang back, gushing cosiness, and make up for lost time,” she responded. “Absentee mum, then gran in overdrive is not an equation that balances.”
Harsh words, but the outside world meddles in family dynamics at its peril. Lady Thatcher was a pioneering politician and a working mother before the term had even been properly coined. Retrospective feelings of guilt, or circumspection over the sacrifices demanded by the office of prime minister, would not be so very surprising.
And as the nation she led – and the foreign leaders she influenced – prepare for her funeral, there will be ample opportunity to pay tribute to Lady Thatcher, both as public figure and private person.
 

Margaret Thatcher was kindly, careful – and convinced she was always right

Gillian Reynolds on radio tributes to Baroness Thatcher and her own encounters with the Iron Lady.

Margaret Thatcher, pictured in 1975
Margaret Thatcher, pictured in 1975 
By Gillian Reynolds 09 Apr 2013

Margaret Thatcher was kindly, careful – and convinced she was always right

Gillian Reynolds on radio tributes to Baroness Thatcher and her own encounters with the Iron Lady.

Margaret Thatcher, pictured in 1975
Margaret Thatcher, pictured in 1975 
3:54PM BST 09 Apr 2013
Margaret Thatcher: coverage in full
Margaret Thatcher obituary
Margaret Thatcher death: latest reaction
Windy and cold in the north, warmer in the south. After 24 hours of programmes about the life and achievements of our first female Prime Minister I have come to the conclusion that anything said about Margaret Hilda Thatcher, 1925–2013, shows the same divisions in the country as the weather forecast. Your view of both will vary according to where you’re from.
I was listening to Radio 3 when I first heard of Baroness Thatcher’s death on Monday. It was just before 1.00pm. The bulletin that followed was, as is the way on Radio 3, short and clear. But this was a historic moment, one where the whole nation pauses to reflect so I retuned to Radio 4 and The World at One. It felt like a visit to the undertaker’s parlour. The presentational tone was reverently unctuous, as if the script were written by manuscript nib. The most vivid contributor was Lord Bell, close Thatcher adviser to the end, who spoke of her warmly, saying we would not see her like again. He sounded close to tears.
It was understandable. It isn’t easy to separate personal feeling on such an occasion. Yet it can be even harder for a listener. The emotional churn that comes when what you are hearing does not correspond with your own view is apt to find voice. It once did over gardens walls, it still does on radio phone-ins. It fires up Twitter and Facebook, explodes in kitchens and cars. “No,” we shout, “it wasn’t like that.” Then we sit and wonder whether, really, it was.
Radio, as the hours went on, certainly offered substantial food for thought. Whoever had planned the formal programmes to mark Baroness Thatcher’s death had done an impressive job. Peter Riddell, once political correspondent for The Times, now Director of the Institute for Government, presented Monday night’s Potency and Paradox (produced by Simon Coates), an hour of views from inside the corridors of power. Evidently, as some of the speakers are also now dead, the interviews had been collected over quite a long time but the range was impressive, including former members of Thatcher cabinets, advisers, civil servants, people who had been part of her closest circle.
Riddell’s thesis, diligently explored, is that there was always a paradox of head and heart within her politics. It showed in her personal kindness and compassion, it defined her political convictions. Early on, she could be persuaded, as Lord Carrington revealed. Yet the more dominant she became, the more isolated she was.
Andrew Neil’s special Radio 4 programme yesterday morning (produced by Paula McGinley) was built from voices of ordinary people, some who had known her in her earliest political career, some who only knew her public persona. Neil added in his own fond personal memories, of her friendship and guidance, his admiration for her courage, his regrets.
This was an unusual programme, a tapestry of everyday opinions, memories, insights. An innocence came out in the story of how she was desperate for nylons to go to her first Buckingham Palace garden party and, back in austerity 1951, the only way to get them was on the black market so that’s where her constituency worker got them. Not that young Margaret Roberts would have countenanced such a thing. Determined, brave, convinced, kindly but, as even Neil said, dangerously deaf to dissent.
Today yesterday, having only room for a bit of sports news alongside so many memories of Baroness Thatcher, ended with a brilliantly chosen trio of columnists, Sir Simon Jenkins former editor of The Times, Sir Max Hastings former Daily Telegraph editor and Eleanor Goodman, Channel 4’s former political editor. I think Hastings’s final thought should be framed and put on every newsroom wall. “Prime Ministers can only do what they do at the time.” In other words, yesterday never comes back.
I interviewed Mrs Thatcher twice. First in a constituency office in Warrington in 1975 when she had just been elected party leader. The second time was in Downing Street in 1986, when Michael Heseltine had just left the Cabinet and dangerous rumours were flying. She was everything these programmes said: kindly, careful and dauntingly convinced she was right about everything.
 
 

Baroness Thatcher: how she transformed a nation's finances

Margaret Thatcher oversaw a revolution in the way people invested in the stock market and property

Share traders - Baroness Thatcher: how she transformed a nation's finances
The 1980s saw a boom in the number of private shareholders Photo: GETTY
 
Emma Simon
By Emma Simon 08 Apr 2013
 
One of Margaret Thatcher's lasting legacies was to turn Britain into a nation of private shareholders.
Justin Urquhart Stewart of Seven Investment Management said: "This was an era of popular share ownership. People might have only owned shares in a couple of companies but this was the first time they held shares and made money from them."
Before the 1980s a small elite – of around 3 million people – owned shares privately. But the number boomed with the privatisation of state-owned utilities such as British Telecom and British Gas.
Mr Urquhart Stewart said that by the end of the 1980s there were almost 12m private shareholders in the UK, a number that would rise still higher with the demutualisation of the building societies, which started in 1989 when Abbey National floated on the stock market. Many others followed in the late 1990s.
Adrian Lowcock of Hargreaves Lansdown added: "In the 1970s just 7pc of people in Britain owned shares directly. By the end of the 1980s a quarter did."
These privatisations were hugely popular. When British Telecom was sold in 1984 two-fifths of the shares sold went to the general public, most of whom were novice investors. Around 2.1 million people invested in the company; they saw the value of their holdings double on the first day, such was the demand for the shares.
The British Gas privatisation in 1986 proved to be just as popular, backed by a TV advertising campaign urging viewers to "Tell Sid" about the offer.
According to Brian Dennehy of Fundexpert.co.uk, 4 million people applied for the shares, of whom 1.5 million received an allocation. Many sold their shareholdings within the first few days for a handsome profit.
Those that held these shares for the longer term have also seen good returns in many cases. According to the Brewin Dophin, British Gas has proved to be the most profitable of these privatisations. An investment of £100 would have been worth £1,246, by the end of 2011 – an increase of 1146pc. This is just the capital gain and does not include the value of any dividends paid. This is a far bigger gain than the growth in the stock market over this period.
These were two of the most high-profile privatisations. But during this period ordinary investors were able to buy shares in Cable & Wireless, British Aerospace, Britoil, Jaguar, British Steel, Rolls-Royce and British Airways – to name but a few.
The chart below shows how some of the popular privatisations have performed relative to the stock market.
A spokesman for Brewin Dolphin said: "In the 1980s, the Thatcher Government successfully developed the policy of selling nationalised industries into private ownership, or privatisation as it became known. However, back then the notion of selling national assets to the public was largely untested and there was uncertainty whether the public would support the issues.
"Thankfully this was not the case. In 1984, BT was the first well known public sector company to be sold and private investors welcomed the offer. More than 2 million people participated, keen to purchase the discounted shares offered at a price of 130p.
"This performance is impressive when you consider the renowned underinvestment in assets prior to privatisation, and the higher levels of staffing at the time of flotation. However, while not actually given away, they were deeply discounted floats and when the companies were exposed to the full force of competition they certainly improved their performance, resulting in very rapid growth from a low base."
Mr Dennehy said: "At the time, Only Fools and Horses was topping the TV ratings. Del Boy's catchphrase of 'this time next year we'll be millionaires' was also a mantra from the Thatcherite generation."
But it wasn't just the privatisations that encouraged wider share ownership. At the same time the Government made it more tax-efficient to hold shares by introducing personal equity plans (or Peps) in 1986.
Initially these plans allowed people to shelter £6,000 in a tax-free environment, by investing in investment funds, or later up to £3,000 in a "single company" Pep.
But many novice investors also learnt the hard way that share dealing wasn't a one-way bet, with the stock market crash of 1987. However, share prices recovered relatively quickly compared with subsequent booms and busts of the past decade.
Property
Ray Boulger of John Charcol said that as far as the housing market was concerned the Right to Buy scheme was Margaret Thatcher’s biggest legacy. This fuelled a significant increase in the proportion of people who were able to buy their own home.
But other factors helped reform the housing market over this period. It is easy to forget that when Mrs Thatcher became Prime Minister the UK still had exchange controls after the previous Labour Government’s mismanagement of the economy resulted in the humiliation of the UK having to go to the IMF for a bail-out in 1976.
Lifting exchange controls and opening up the UK capital markets had a far reaching impact on the UK economy, and this helped transform the mortgage market during the 1980s. That decade saw several new lenders enter to UK market and new types of mortgage becoming available. Instead of mortgage queues being the norm, borrowers saw the benefit of competition with an increasing choice of different rate options, such as fixed and capped rates, which had been almost unheard of previously.
Mr Boulger said: "Lenders actually had to start competing for business rather than most borrowers having to decide which lender to start saving with in order to qualify for a standard variable rate (SVR) mortgage a couple of years later. Until the early 1980s most banks were not active in the mortgage market and nearly all mortgage lending was done by the much larger number of building societies which then existed. The Building Societies Association operated a cartel, resulting in most lenders charging the same rate. This of course would be illegal today!
Until the mid 1980s it was impossible to raise capital by remortgaging and as until then nearly all lenders charged the same rate there was no point in remortgaging to get a better, or different, rate. Therefore until that time the remortgage market didn’t exist."
Pensions
Tom McPhail, the head of pensions research at Hargreaves Lansdown, said it was "impossible to overstate" the impact that Lady Thatcher had on Britain’s retirement saving culture.
"Back in the early 1980s, we still had a relatively paternalistic pension system, with the state and employers between them providing individuals with a guaranteed retirement income, risk free," he said. "Job mobility was relatively low compared to today, meaning that the final salary pension structure made sense for both employers and employees."
He added: "Through her battles with the unions, the privatisation programme, the abolition of compulsory pension scheme membership and the introduction of personal pensions, successive Thatcher governments fundamentally changed the entire social context. We now have a system of pensions which is largely based on private provision and, while the workplace still plays an important role, individuals’ retirement prosperity is more dependent today than at any time for decades upon the personal decisions which they choose to make.
"This emphasis on individuals bearing responsibility for the decisions they take, aided and supported by their employers, is a direct legacy of Lady Thatcher."

Key privatisations Mrs Thatcher’s premiership

1980 Amersham International Medical Diagnostics – £71 million
1981 Cable & Wireless – £71 million
1982 Britoil (BNOC) £549 million
1983 Associated British Ports £22 million
1984 British Telecom – £3.9bn for treasury
1984 Enterprise Oil – £392 million
1984 Jaguar – £294 million
1985 Trustees Savings Bank (TSB)
1986 British Gas – £5.43bn
1987 British Airways £900m
1987 Rolls-Royce £1.3bn
1987 British Airports Authority £1.28bn
1987 British Petroleum (sold in tranches)
1988 British Steel
1989 Regional water companies – £5.1bn
1990 National Power & Powergen – £2.23bn
1990 Scottish Power and Scottish Hydro Electric – £2.88bn
 

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08 Apr 2013 08 Apr 2013 09 Apr 2013 08 Apr 2013 24 Mar 2012 08 Apr 2013
 
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Russell Brand brings his controversial show to Australia

Cameron Adams
February 05, 2009 12:00am

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,25011974-2902,00.html

FOR UK comedian and rising Hollywood player Russell Brand, slating George W Bush,

mocking the Jonas Brothers, meant death threats from fans of both.

The backlash from his celebrity-baiting MTV hosting slot last September -- where he called Bush ‘‘a retarded cowboy fella'', not to be ‘‘trusted with scissors'' -- paled in comparison with
‘‘Manuelgate'', where Brand overnight became public enemy No.1 in the UK media.

It started innocently enough. Last October serial pantsman Brand invited UK TV star Jonathan Ross on to his weekly BBC Radio 2 show as a guest co-host.

The pair, friends away from the microphones, were supposed to interview Andrew Sachs, best known for playing Manuel in Fawlty Towers.

When Sachs didn't answer his phone, the pair left a rambling answering-machine message in which Ross managed to mention, in fairly lewd terms, that Brand had bedded Sachs' granddaughter Georgina Baillie.

The late-night radio program aired initially with only two complaints about Ross's swearing; regular listeners were used to hearing about Brand's various female conquests and nocturnal japes.

But when the UK media picked it up a week later -- and promoted links to the broadcast -- the story exploded and belated complaints came flooding in.

Within a week Brand quit his radio show, Radio 2 controller Lesley Douglas resigned and Ross was suspended from the BBC without pay for 12 weeks, losing some of the cash that was part of his extraordinary $40 million, three-year TV and radio contract with the Beeb.

‘‘I've apologised to Andrew Sachs, I admire him,'' Brand says now. ‘‘I didn't mean to be offensive to him but sometimes you get carried away.''

Brand has used Manuelgate, and his MTV experience, as the basis for his new stand-up show Scandalous -- his first to visit Australia.

‘‘It's so interesting,'' Brand says. ‘‘I'd have talked about both of those events even if I'd not been involved in them. They were fascinating affairs.

‘‘The stuff that happened in America after I made the comments about George W. Bush was interesting. I got death threats and things like that, that's pretty amazing.

‘‘And the BBC -- the stuff that happened afterwards was unbelievable. The amount of media attention it got -- the British Prime Minister talked about it. It was insane.''

Brand is not only part of the media -- he's written columns in the UK and hosted a string of UK TV shows as well as his radio work -- he's a student of it too.

In his stand-up shows, he has dissected the machinations of stories in UK newspapers -- quite often involving one of his conquests selling their story in a kiss and sell.

‘‘If you're part of the media and you're fascinated by the media it's mental when you become the centre of it,'' Brand says.

‘‘When the kiss-and-tell stories happened when I was first famous it was mad. I used to read newspapers anyway and analyse the way they spoke about things, the way they emboldened certain words and the way information is relayed.

‘‘I'm fascinated by communication in general. So when such an extreme case comes up that involves yourself, it's pretty scintillating to deconstruct.''

Which is where Scandalous comes in.

Days after his resignation, Brand was stalked by the British paparazzi.

When he flew to Los Angeles, stories surfaced about him escaping the UK.

‘‘I was going to LA to do a film that had been arranged for ages,'' Brand clarifies. ‘‘If you say ‘He's hiding in LA' that's negative. If you say ‘He's going to LA to make a Shakespeare movie (The Tempest) with Helen Mirren' that's brilliant. And that's what was happening.

‘‘I was going there anyway. You can't arrange a film with Helen Mirren at a week's notice -- she's very busy.''

Brand plays some of the audio from Manuelgate in Scandalous -- he's particularly proud of rhyming ‘‘menstrual'' with ‘‘consensual'' during a song left on the lengthy answering-machine message. ‘‘That was off the top of my head,'' he says.

The star says the incident has not changed his way of working.

‘‘Interestingly it enhances your relationship with reality. I know what's real, I know who I am, I know what I want and these things must remain uninfluenced by the ephemera around it.

‘‘The reality doesn't change, people's perspectives changed. Of the actual people I speak to, no one's ever said a single negative thing about it. Everyone says, ‘That got blown out of proportion didn't it?'

‘‘I'm not seeking to say anything other than it was wrong, I apologise, but that's not that interesting. What was interesting was what surrounds it.''

Brand is open about his huge ego and narcissism -- as well as his sensitive side that sees him take criticism badly.

Manuelgate saw him gain more attention than ever -- but not all of it positive. 

‘‘It was so huge it became utterly abstract,'' Brand says. ‘‘Even given the egotism I have, I thought ‘This cannot be about me, Russell, the vegetarian from Essex who has a cat'. I'm just a normal bloke. It must be about something else. That made me able to view it objectively, it was too absurd to be about me. It's certainly made for some good stand-up comedy.''

Pressed, Brand has several theories on what happened -- and why he was caught up in the middle of it.

‘‘Perhaps there was an element of tall poppy syndrome with the UK media. It was a time of economic crisis, the papers got bored reporting economic decline. There was an element of people going to print media less and less so newspapers have to define their identity.

‘‘I think the privately owned media had an agenda to destroy the publicly funded BBC which is ongoing. The BBC will inevitably become a commercial channel. People are now more inclined to click on a website to complain about something they read in the Daily Mail. People feel they have a vested interest to be involved in TV programming, which is probably a positive thing.

‘‘So a lot of factors came together. Really what it was about was me doing something offensive, for which I apologised. It was rude. But what happened beyond that can't be about the original incident.''

Until Manuelgate, Brand had had a fairly charmed run with the British media -- even with his chequered past.

His best-selling autobiography My Booky Wook graphically documented how his ‘‘internal deficit of longing and sadness'' ultimately led him to alcohol, crack and then heroin addiction and the petty crime associated with it.

‘‘I always knew it'd be the one, because it was the only drug that did what was promised,'' Brand wrote of heroin.

He also developed a sideline sex addiction.

Despite his habits, Brand still managed to work in TV. Things came to a head when he got a job at MTV UK -- problematically based in Camden Town, where his drug dealer worked.

It was September 12, 2002. Brand was working on an MTV afternoon show and decided -- in his heroin haze -- to come to work dressed as Osama bin Laden.

He smoked crack in the toilet with his dealer, who he then introduced to his guest on the show that afternoon -- Kylie Minogue.

Brand was sacked two days later.

My Booky Wook details his several bouts of rehabilitation to kick heroin -- finally getting clean in 2003.

Last year he was planning to play himself in a film version of My Booky Wook -- to be directed by Michael Winterbottom.

Those plans are on hold -- with Brand scoffing at rumours it was to keep his Class A past hidden from Americans who have just discovered him through such movies as Forgetting Sarah Marshall, in which he plays an exaggerated version of himself.

‘‘I'm doing loads of other movies,'' Brand says. ‘‘I have to play myself every day anyway, so I'm not going to make that film for a little while. I might get someone else to play me now.''

His US film breakthrough came in Forgetting Sarah Marshall -- stealing the show as sex-obsessed, rehabbed British rock star Aldous Snow.

The film's creators changed the character to be not-so-loosely based on Brand after his first audition.

After wrapping The Tempest with the ‘‘amazing, gorgeous, wonderful'' Helen Mirren, Brand's next role will see him recreate Snow in the spin-off movie Get Him to the Greek.

Brand and Jonah Hill star in the movie, again produced by Judd Apatow, which follows Snow falling back into a chemical lifestyle. Hill is a fan who tries to clean him up before a gig at LA's Greek Theatre.

‘‘I enjoy playing him,'' Brand says of Snow.

‘‘It's a good aspect of myself to highlight. It'll be interesting to get back into that destructive, self-indulgent insanity now he's back on drugs.''

After a role in Adam Sandler's Bedtime Stories, Brand says he has been offered a role in a Pirates of the Caribbean sequel and confirms he'll take the lead role in a remake of the Dudley Moore hit Arthur: ‘‘That's exciting.''

The high Hollywood workload is something Brand has been aiming for -- he's now partly based in LA and has the obligatory high-profile publicist and agent.

Though he's had therapy for sex addiction, Brand stopped his bed-hopping last year for a relationship with Australian Teresa Palmer, who he met on the set of Bedtime Stories.

The pair even watched Port Power at the MCG with Palmer's parents. ‘‘They didn't win that day, they were drubbed,'' Brand says. ‘‘I enjoyed it though, it was a mad sport.''

He's planning to inject some of his Australian knowledge into a local version of Scandalous.

‘‘Australia warrants its own personal show in many respects and it will get it,'' Brand says.

Forgetting Sarah Marshall was filmed in Hawaii and Brand says his lack of fame there at the time made finding women for sexual encounters ‘‘very difficult''.

Despite getting recognised -- mainly by expat Brits -- during his Australian trip last year, he's preparing for the worst.

‘‘It'll be interesting to discover,'' Brand says. ‘‘At worst I'll have to rely on my personality.''

Brand was quoted recently saying he's burned out drugs and is on the verge of burning out sex -- with estimates he beds three women a day, making him the Gene Simmons of comedy.

‘‘I wouldn't mind arriving at a point where I'm just in harmony with the moment, not in any way
dependent on external things other than food and oxygen,'' Brand says. ‘‘It's distracting when you spend all your time pursuing stuff, it's all meaningless anyway.''

So his message to the ladies of Australia on his tour in March?

‘‘The ladies of Australia need not worry. I've not reached enlightenment just yet. I'm still some distance from that.'' 

Russell Brand, Hamer Hall, March 20, $79.90, Ticketmaster.

Other Entertainment News

Russell Brand even has his own web site click to enjoy Russell Brands Crazy Web News



Russell Brand in 2007
Russell Brand
Click here for Russell Brand's MySpace Page To find out more about Russell Brand

Russell Edward Brand[1] (born 4 June 1975) is an English comedian, actor, columnist and presenter of radio and television.

Brand achieved mainstream fame in the UK for presenting a Big Brother spin-off, Big Brother's Big Mouth, and for his radio show, among other television series and award ceremonies. He has also appeared in a number of films, including the romantic comedy Forgetting Sarah Marshall, St Trinian's and Bedtime Stories.


Brand is noted for his unusual fashion preferences, and he has described himself as resembling "an S&M Willy Wonka". He is also noted for various controversies that have surrounded him in the British media, such as the 2008 prank calls that led to his resignation from the BBC

Early life

Brand was born in Grays, Essex, England, the only child of Barbara Elizabeth (née Nichols) and Ronald Henry Brand, a photographer.[2] His parents separated when Brand was six months old. His mother brought him up on her own, giving Brand a somewhat isolated and lonely childhood.[3]

Brand made his theatrical debut at age 15 as "Fat Sam" in a school production of Bugsy Malone. After this Brand decided he wanted to be an actor. He began working as an extra and applied to study at the Italia Conti Academy. He was accepted, and Essex council funded his tuition for an introductory year, with potential funding for three additional years. Brand joined the academy in 1991. During this time he began smoking cannabis, became bulimic, and eventually took LSD. Brand was expelled during his introductory year for his behaviour. Afterward Brand had small acting roles in the children's show Mud and in The Bill.

In 1995 Brand applied for the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and Drama Centre London and was accepted to Drama Centre. By this point he was a heroin addict and an alcoholic. He was expelled in the final term of his final year for smashing a glass over his head and then stabbing himself in the chest and arms because of poor reactions to one of his performances. After leaving Drama Centre, Brand decided to focus on comedy and began writing material with Karl Theobald, whom he met at Drama Centre. They formed a short-lived double act, Theobald and Brand on Ice.

Career

Brand's first significant stand-up appearance was at the Hackney Empire New Act of the Year final in 2000. Although he finished fourth, his performance attracted the attention of an agent, Nigel Klarfeld of Gagged and Bound Comedy Ltd.[4] That same year he made his Edinburgh debut as one third of the stand-up show Pablo Diablo's Cryptic Triptych alongside ventriloquist Mark Felgate and Anglo-Iranian comic Shappi Khorsandi.

In 2004, he also took his first one-man show, the confessional Better Now, to the Edinburgh Festival, giving an honest account of his heroin addiction. He returned the following year with Eroticised Humour. His first nationwide tour Shame, was in 2006 and drew on embarrassing incidents in Brand's life and the tabloid press's treatment of him since he became famous. The show released on DVD as Russell Brand: Live. His second nationwide tour was in 2007 and titled Russell Brand: Only Joking and released on DVD as Russell Brand: Doin' Life.

Brand appeared in a sketch and performed stand-up at the 2006 Secret Policeman's Ball. In March 2007, he co-hosted an evening of the Teenage Cancer Trust gigs with Noel Fielding. On 3 December 2007 Brand performed for HM Queen Elizabeth II and HRH Prince Philip as an act in the 2007 Royal Variety Performance.

Because of his filming schedule in America, Brand has began performing stand-up there as well and has recorded a special for Comedy Central that will air in February 2009.[5] Brand began touring the UK in January/February 2009 on a 26 date tour called Russell Brand: Scandalous.[6]

During a performance at the Royal and Derngate Theatre, Northampton in July 2008, Brand made a hoax call claiming he had spotted a man responsible for a series of assaults. Brand issued an apology for his actions.[7]

Presenting

Brand's first presenting role came in 2000 as a VJ on music channel MTV presenting Dance Floor Chart, in which he toured the nightclubs of Britain and Ibiza, and the hosted teatime request show Select. However he was fired after coming to work dressed as Osama bin Laden the day after the September 11, 2001 attacks and bringing his drug dealer to the MTV studios.[8]

After MTV, Brand featured in RE:Brand, a British documentary and comedy television programme that aimed to take a challenging look at cultural taboos. It was conceived, written and hosted by Brand, with the help of his comic partner for many projects, Matt Morgan. The series was shown on the now defunct digital satellite channel UK Play in 2002.

In 2004, he hosted Big Brother's Eforum on E4, a sister show to Big Brother 5. The show gave celebrity guests and the public the chance to have their say on the goings-on inside the Big Brother house. For Big Brother 6 the show's name changed to Big Brother's Big Mouth. Following Celebrity Big Brother 5, Brand said he would not return to host the Big Brother 8 series of Big Brother's Big Mouth; in a statement Brand thanked all the producers for "taking the risk of employing an ex-junkie twerp" to front the show and of his time presenting the show, he said: "The three years I've spent on Big Brother's Big Mouth have been an unprecedented joy."[9] Brand hosted a one-off special called Big Brother According to Russell Brand in which Brand takes a surreal, sideways look at Big Brother through the ages. On 8 January 2008, Brand was the fifth celebrity to hijack the Big Brother house,[10] in the E4 show Big Brother: Celebrity Hijack.

Brand returned to MTV in the spring of 2006 as presenter of the chat show 1 Leicester Square initially going out at 8 p.m. on Sundays before being shifted to a post-watershed time of 10 p.m. on Mondays, allowing a more adult theme to the show. Guests have included Tom Cruise, Uma Thurman, The Mighty Boosh and Boy George. A second series began in September 2006 on MTV UK. After Big Brother 7 finished, Brand presented a debate show called Russell Brand's Got Issues, on digital channel E4. The viewing figures for the first episode were seen as disappointing, being beaten by nearly all of E4's main multi-channel rivals, despite a big publicity and promotional campaign for the show. Because of the poor ratings the show was repackaged as The Russell Brand Show and moved to Channel 4.[11] The first episode was broadcast on 24 November, on Channel 4[12] and the show ran for five weeks.

Brand presented the 2006 NME Awards, and was famously called a "cunt" by Bob Geldof, to which Brand replied, "Really it's no surprise he's [Geldof] such an expert on famine he has after all been dining out on, "I Don't Like Mondays," for 30 years."[13] Brand hosted the 2007 BRIT Awards and presented Oasis with their Outstanding Contribution to Music award at the event.[14] He also hosted one hour of Comic Relief. On 7 July 2007, he presented at the UK leg of Live Earth at Wembley Stadium, London.

A documentary presented by Brand and Matt Morgan about the writer Jack Kerouac and his novel On the Road called Russell Brand On the Road aired on 12 December 2007 on BBC Four.

Brand returned to Channel 4 to host Russell Brand's Ponderland, in which he discusses various topics like childhood and science through stand-up comedy. The show first aired on 22 October 2007, and was on for the following five nights. A second series began on 30 October 2008, drawing in over 1 million viewers, and was broadcast every Thursday night for a further 4 weeks with a Christmas special to air in December.

Brand was announced as the host of the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards which caused scepticism from the American media as he was relatively unknown to the American public. Brand's stint as host of the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards was not without controversy.[15] At one point, he said the night, "marked the launch of a very new Britney Spears era," referring to it as, "the resurrection of [Spears]," and, "if there was a female Christ, it's Britney."[16] Brand implored the audience to elect Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and later called U.S. President George W. Bush, "a retarded cowboy fella," who in England, "wouldn't be trusted with scissors."[16][17] He made several references to the purity rings worn by the Jonas Brothers, but later in the show, apologised for those comments.[18] Brand claims MTV have asked him to host the 2009 awards after the ratings for the 2008 show were 20% up from the previous year.[19]

Acting

In 2002, he filmed roles in the television comedy dramas Cruise of the Gods (although he was fired during the filming) and White Teeth. In 2005 he played Tommy in the BBC sitcom Blessed which was written and directed by Ben Elton. He auditioned for the part of Super Hans in the Channel 4 sitcom Peep Show, but was rejected by the writers in favour of Matt King.[20]

In 2007, Brand played a recovering crack addict called "Terry," in the pilot for ITV comedy The Abbey, written by Morwenna Banks.[21] The Abbey was commissioned for a full series to be shown on ITV2. Filming was due to begin in January 2008 but the series has since been cancelled. Also that year, he appeared in Cold Blood for ITV playing an ex-con called Ally.

He filmed a small role in 2006 for Penelope. Brand's first major film role was as Flash Harry in the 2007 film St Trinian's, although it is not known if he will reprise the role for the upcoming sequel St Trinian's: The Legend of Fritton's Gold. His breakthrough role was in the 2008 film Forgetting Sarah Marshall, in which he played Aldous Snow, the boyfriend of the title character (played by Kristen Bell). Brand received rave reviews for his performance as Snow and revealed the character was changed from a Author to Rock Star because of his audition.[22] He will again play the character of Aldous Snow for a buddy comedy entitled Get Him to the Greek, co-starring Jonah Hill.[23] He is reuniting with Forgetting Sarah Marshall director Nicholas Stoller and producer Judd Apatow for the film also.[24] It is described in Variety Magazine as a "very dirty take on Almost Famous".

Brand starred alongside Adam Sandler in the Disney film Bedtime Stories, that was released on Christmas 2008.[25] Sandler has cast Brand in another film and will produce another, co-written by Brand and Matt Morgan, about a conman posing as a priest tentatively called Bad Father.[26][27] Brand will appear in Julie Taymor's version of William Shakespeare's The Tempest as Trinculo.[28] Brand will also appear in an Oliver Stone film[29] and is in talks to star in a remake of Arthur with Brand playing the title character.[30]

Radio

Brand's radio career began in early 2002, when he hosted a Sunday afternoon show with Matt Morgan on London's Indie Rock station Xfm. Brand was fired from this job after reading out pornographic material live on-air.

Brand co-hosted The Russell Brand Show since it began in April 2006 on BBC 6Music. In November 2006, the show transferred to BBC Radio 2 and aired on Saturdays from 9pm until 11pm. The show regularly had around 400,000 listeners.[31] In an episode of the show broadcast on 18 October 2008, Brand and fellow Radio 2 DJ, Jonathan Ross, made a series of phone calls to the actor Andrew Sachs. Sunday tabloid The Mail on Sunday broke the story and regarded the phone calls as obscene. Both presenters were later suspended by the BBC due to the incident,[32] and Brand resigned from his show.[33][34]

Writings

Brand has written a column in The Guardian since May 2006 which centres around his admiration of West Ham United and the England national football team. A collection of the columns from May 2006 until June 2007 was released on 15 November 2007 in a book entitled Irons in the Fire.[35] A second collection of the columns for the 2007/2008 season was released on 16 October 2008 and is called Articles of Faith. It also includes Brand interviewing Noel Gallagher, James Corden and David Baddiel about football.[36]

Brand's autobiography, My Booky Wook, published by Hodder & Stoughton, was released on 15 November 2007. The book gained a positive reception upon release. The Observer commented that "Russell Brand's gleeful tale of drugs and debauchery in My Booky Wook puts most other celebrity memoirs to shame."[37] Brand was to play himself in a film adaptation of his autobiography, to be directed by Michael Winterbottom, but the project has since been shelved by Brand, who did not want American audiences to learn of his "chequered past" without reading the book first.[38][39]

He signed a £1.8 million two-book deal with HarperCollins in June 2008. The first book was Articles of Faith., with the second expected to be released in 2009.[40][41]

Music

Brand recorded a cover of The Beatles song "When I'm Sixty-Four" with Grammy Award-winning composer David Arnold for the 40th anniversary of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. He contributed two songs to the soundtrack of the 2008 film Forgetting Sarah Marshall as Aldous Snow lead singer of the fictional band, "Infant Sorrow".[42]

Personal life


Brand lives in Hampstead, London,[43] with his cat, which he named after the singer Morrissey, of whom Brand is a big fan.[44]

He has been a vegetarian since the age of 14,[45]and is also a fan of football, and a supporter of West Ham United; he says that his love of football is "intrinsically about my relationship with my father."[46] He dresses in a flamboyant bohemian fashion describing himself as looking like an "S&M Willy Wonka."[47] He has bipolar disorder,[48] and has suffered from bulimia in the past.[45] He also went through a period of self-harm.[49]

He is a former heroin and sex addict, recovering alcoholic and has had numerous run-ins with the police, having been arrested 11 times[50] During the time of his addiction, he was known for his debauchery, a notable example being his ejection from The Gilded Balloon, in Edinburgh.[51] He has abstained from drug use since 2002 and is now a patron of the addiction charity Focus 12.[52] His abandonment of drugs and alcohol was instigated by his agent John Noel after he was caught taking heroin in a toilet during his Christmas party.[53] Brand regularly attends AA and NA meetings.[54]

Brand has a reputation in the media of being a ladies' man after a string of high profile relationships and because of this has won The Sun's Shagger Of The Year in 2006[55], 2007[56] and 2008. The award has been renamed the The Russell Brand Shagger Of The Year Award in honour of Brand winning three years in a row[57]

 


Filmography
Year Film Role Note
2007 St Trinian's Flash Harry
2008 Penelope Sam
Forgetting Sarah Marshall Aldous Snow
Bedtime Stories Mickey
2009 The Tempest Trinculo[58] filming
2010 Get Him to the Greek Aldous Snow[59] pre-production
Despicable Me[60] TBA pre-production

Awards

Year Ceremony Award Result
2006 Time Out Best Stand-Up Won[61]
2006 Loaded Laftas Best Stand-Up Won[62]
2006 British Comedy Awards Best Newcomer Won[63]
2007 33rd Annual Television and Radio Awards Best Television Performer In A Non-Acting Role Won[64]
2007 Channel 4 100 Greatest Stand-Ups 69th[65]
2008 British Book Awards Biography of the Year Won[66]
2008 British Comedy Awards Best Live Stand-Up Won[67]


Further reading
References
  1. ^ Nick Barratt. "Family Detective: Russell Brand". Daily Telegraph. 24 March 2007. Retrieved 20 September 2007
  2. ^ Nick Barratt. "Family Detective: Russell Brand". Daily Telegraph. 24 March 2007. Retrieved 20 September 2007. This article gives his place of birth as "Thurrock". Thurrock is the unitary authority within which Grays is located.
  3. ^ Docklands24 - Author Interview: Russell Brand
  4. ^ Bound & Gagged Comedy Ltd
  5. ^ Russell Brand bags US show
  6. ^ Russell Brand 2009 Tour Dates
  7. ^ Brand apologises for prank call
  8. ^ Brand, Russell (2007-11-13). "And then I became a junkie ... | By genre | Guardian Unlimited Books" (HTML). The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2007/nov/13/biography.drugsandalcohol. Retrieved on 2007-11-18. 
  9. ^ Brand quits Big Brother spin-off at BBC News
  10. ^ Russell Brand speaks to the house
  11. ^ Primetime slots for comedians Hill and Brand
  12. ^ Brand and Ross to go head-to-head at BBC News
  13. ^ Interview with Russell Brand | Media | The Observer
  14. ^ Russell Brand to host Brit Awards at BBC News
  15. ^ Russell Brand to host MTV Awards
  16. ^ a b BBC - Brand makes controversial comments at MTV awards. BBC.co.uk. 8 September 2008.
  17. ^ Schmidt, Veronica. "Russell Brand calls George Bush a 'retard' at MTV awards." Times (London). 8 September 2008.
  18. ^ Reynolds, Simon. Brand apologises for Jonas Brother's VMA Gag. digitalspy.co.uk. 8 September 2008.
  19. ^ Russell Brand to host 2009 MTV Video Music Awards?
  20. ^ "Brand 'rejected for Peep Show role'". BBC Newsbeat. 2008-04-16. http://news.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/hi/entertainment/newsid_7351000/7351096.stm. Retrieved on 16 April 2008. 
  21. ^ 3am Entertainment Gossip & Celebrity News - Mirror.co.uk
  22. ^ FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL - Russell Brand
  23. ^ Apatow, Stoller speak 'Greek'
  24. ^ Apatow, Stoller speak 'Greek' Universal buddy comedy stars Hill, Brand
  25. ^ Russell Brand Tells Adam Sandler Bedtime Stories
  26. ^ [1]
  27. ^ Adam's own Brand of comedy
  28. ^ Shakespeare Gets A Sex Change
  29. ^ Brand on the run
  30. ^ Russell Brand Developing Arthur Remake
  31. ^ BBC Trust Editorial Standards Findings Page 14
  32. ^ "Brand and Ross suspended by BBC". BBC website. 29 October 2008. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7696714.stm. Retrieved on 29 October 2008. 
  33. ^ BBC News 29/10/08
  34. ^ "Timeline: Russell Brand prank calls". BBC. 2008-10-30. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7694989.stm. Retrieved on 31 October 2008. 
  35. ^ Irons in the Fire (Hardcover) at Amazon.com
  36. ^ Brand, Russell. Articles of Faith. amazon.co.uk.
  37. ^ A shot in the arm for Brand awareness, The Guardian review
  38. ^ Hilton, Beth (2008-05-31). "Brand scraps "Booky Wook" film". Digital Spy. http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/movies/a97128/brand-scraps-booky-wook-film.html. Retrieved on 31 May 2008. 
  39. ^ Russell's ego takes a bashing
  40. ^ Brand: 'Book will be about philosophy'
  41. ^ Brand signs £1.8 million book deal
  42. ^ Forgetting Sarah Marshall soundtrack
  43. ^ 14 July 2007 – "The Russell Brand Show" on BBC Radio 2
  44. ^ Russell Brand Gets To Be In New Morrissey Video
  45. ^ a b "Interview with Russell Brand". The Observer. 2006-06-18. http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2006/jun/18/broadcasting.arts. Retrieved on 14 April 2008. 
  46. ^ Interview - LIVE Magazine, 29 July 2007
  47. ^ Friday Night with Jonathan Ross – 12 May 2006
  48. ^ Won over by an idiot who’s interesting
  49. ^ How Russell Brand is flirting with his old enemy, self-harm
  50. ^ This charming man, interview between Brand and The Observer
  51. ^ Pleasance, Edinburgh, review by The Guardian.
  52. ^ Focus 12
  53. ^ scotsman.com.
  54. ^ Russell Brand: Two stops short of Barking
  55. ^ Russell Brand-ed a shagger
  56. ^ Brand romps into his film role
  57. ^ It's the Bizarre Awards 2008
  58. ^ Shakespeare Gets A Sex Change
  59. ^ Brand keen to reprise junkie role
  60. ^ Carell, Brand join 'Despicable' cast
  61. ^ 20th Time Out Live Awards Winners - Comedy by Time Out
  62. ^ Loaded Laftas
  63. ^ Little Britain's big win
  64. ^ Broadcasting Press Guild
  65. ^ 100 Greatest Stand-Ups
  66. ^ 2008 Biography of the Year
  67. ^ Brand wins British Comedy Award
External links


RUSSELL BRAND

Overview

Contact:
View agent and publicist contact information for Russell Brand on IMDbPro.
Trivia:
Is an only child. more
STARmeter: ?
Down 19% in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro.
Awards:
1 win & 2 nominations more
NewsDesk:
(331 articles)
Brand plans to emulate Fry lift Twitter
 (From digitalspy. 6 February 2009, 9:08 AM, PST)

Clothes Swapping Growing To Become One Of 2009's Biggest Trends
 (From iCelebz. 5 February 2009, 1:07 PM, PST)


Actor:
  1. Despicable Me (2010) (pre-production) (voice)
  2. Get Him to the Greek (2010) (pre-production) .... Aldous Snow
  3. The Tempest (2009) (post-production) .... Trinculo
  4. Bedtime Stories (2008) .... Mickey
    ... aka Click (Philippines: English title: review title)
  5. Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008) .... Aldous Snow
  6. Robbie the Reindeer in Close Encounters of the Herd Kind (2007) (TV) (voice) .... Earth Guardian
  7. St. Trinian's (2007) .... Flash
  8. "Cold Blood" .... Ally Parkins (1 episode, 2007)
    ... aka Cold Blood III (UK: informal title)
        - Interference (2007) TV episode .... Ally Parkins
  9. The Abbey (2007) (TV) .... Terry
  10. Penelope (2006) .... Sam the Jazz Club Owner
  11. "Blessed" .... Tommy (1 episode, 2005)
        - Who Wrote the Book of Love? (The Undertones) (2005) TV episode .... Tommy
  12. A Bear's Christmas Tail (2004) (TV) .... Mr. Wolf
  13. Cruise of the Gods (2002) (TV) .... Woolly Hat Fan
  14. White Teeth (2002) (TV) .... Merlin
  15. A Brief History of Cuba in D Minor (2001) (voice)
  16. "The Bill" .... Billy Case (1 episode, 1994)
        - Land of the Blind (1994) TV episode .... Billy Case
  17. "Mud" .... Shane (6 episodes, 1994)
        - Episode #1.6 (1994) TV episode .... Shane
        - Episode #1.5 (1994) TV episode .... Shane
        - Episode #1.4 (1994) TV episode .... Shane
        - Episode #1.3 (1994) TV episode .... Shane
        - Episode #1.2 (1994) TV episode .... Shane
          (1 more)
Writer:
  1. "Ponderland" (3 episodes, 2008)
        - Class (2008) TV episode (writer)
        - Food (2008) TV episode (writer)
        - Education (2008) TV episode (writer)
  2. Russell Brand: Doing Life - Live (2007) (creator)
  3. Russell Brand: Live (2006) (V) (written by)
  4. "Got Issues" (2 episodes, 2006)
    ... aka Russell Brand's Got Issues (UK: complete title)
        - Is Sex Fucking Us Up? (2006) TV episode (written by)
        - Yobs: Is It Time to Fight Back? (2006) TV episode (writer)
  5. "RE:Brand" (2002) TV series (creator)
Soundtrack:
  1. Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008) (performer: "Inside of You", "We've Got to Do Something")
Self:
  1. "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" .... Himself - Guest (2 episodes, 2008)
        - Episode #6.176 (2008) TV episode .... Himself - Guest
        - Episode dated 3 September 2008 (2008) TV episode .... Himself - Guest
  2. "Late Show with David Letterman" .... Himself - Guest (2 episodes, 2008)
    ... aka Late Show Backstage (USA: title for episodes with guest hosts)
    ... aka Letterman (Australia)
    ... aka The Late Show (USA: informal short title)
        - Episode #16.41 (2008) TV episode .... Himself - Guest
        - Episode #15.117 (2008) TV episode .... Himself - Guest
  3. "Ponderland" .... Himself (7 episodes, 2007-2008)
        - Pets (2008) TV episode .... Himself
        - Holidays (2007) TV episode .... Himself
        - Love (2007) TV episode .... Himself
        - Sport (2007) TV episode .... Himself
        - Crime (2007) TV episode .... Himself
          (2 more)
  4. "Channel 4 News" .... Himself (1 episode, 2008)
    ... aka ITN Channel 4 News (UK: informal title)
        - Episode dated 29 October 2008 (2008) TV episode .... Himself
  5. "The Paul O'Grady Show" .... Himself (3 episodes, 2007-2008)
    ... aka The New Paul O'Grady Show (UK: new title)
        - Episode dated 24 October 2008 (2008) TV episode .... Himself
        - Episode #8.27 (2008) TV episode .... Himself
        - Episode #7.44 (2007) TV episode .... Himself
  6. "The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson" .... Himself (1 episode, 2008)
        - Episode dated 9 September 2008 (2008) TV episode .... Himself
  7. MTV Video Music Awards 2008 (2008) (TV) .... Himself - Host
  8. "Entertainment Tonight" .... Himself (1 episode, 2008)
    ... aka E.T. (USA: informal title)
    ... aka ET Weekend (Australia: weekend title)
    ... aka Entertainment This Week (weekend title)
    ... aka This Week in Entertainment (USA: weekend title)
        - Episode dated 5 September 2008 (2008) TV episode .... Himself
  9. "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" .... Himself (3 episodes, 2008)
        - Episode dated 2 September 2008 (2008) TV episode .... Himself
        - Episode dated 9 June 2008 (2008) TV episode .... Himself
        - Episode dated 8 April 2008 (2008) TV episode .... Himself
  10. "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" .... Himself (1 episode, 2008)
    ... aka Late Night with Conan O'Brien (Australia)
        - Episode dated 16 July 2008 (2008) TV episode .... Himself
  11. Spike Guys Choice (2008) (TV) .... Himself
  12. "Friday Night with Jonathan Ross" .... Himself (4 episodes, 2006-2008)
        - Episode #14.14 (2008) TV episode .... Himself
        - Episode #13.11 (2007) TV episode .... Himself
        - Episode #12.13 (2007) TV episode .... Himself
        - Episode #10.7 (2006) TV episode .... Himself
  13. "Loose Women" .... Himself (2 episodes, 2007-2008)
        - Episode #12.161 (2008) TV episode .... Himself
        - Episode #12.70 (2007) TV episode .... Himself
  14. "Today" .... Himself (1 episode, 2008)
    ... aka NBC News Today (USA: promotional title)
    ... aka The Today Show (USA)
        - Episode dated 15 April 2008 (2008) TV episode .... Himself
  15. "Total Request Live" .... Himself (1 episode, 2008)
    ... aka TRL (USA: promotional abbreviation)
    ... aka TRL Weekend (USA: informal alternative title)
    ... aka Total Request with Carson Daly (USA: alternative title)
        - Episode dated 15 April 2008 (2008) TV episode .... Himself
  16. "Entertainers with Byron Allen" .... Himself (1 episode, 2008)
        - Episode dated 31 March 2008 (2008) TV episode .... Himself
  17. "New Heroes of Comedy" .... Himself (2 episodes, 2008)
        - Lucas and Walliams (2008) TV episode .... Himself
        - Ricky Gervais (2008) TV episode .... Himself
  18. Greatest Ever 80s Movies (2007) (TV) .... Himself
  19. The Big Fat Quiz of the Year (2007) (TV) .... Himself - Contestant
  20. "The Graham Norton Show" .... Himself (1 episode, 2007)
        - Episode #2.12 (2007) TV episode .... Himself
  21. Richard & Judy's Christmas Books (2007) (TV) .... Himself
  22. The Royal Variety Performance 2007 (2007) (TV) .... Performer
  23. "Have I Got News for You" .... Himself (1 episode, 2007)
    ... aka HIGNFY (UK: short title)
    ... aka Have I Got 1992 for You (UK: rerun title)
    ... aka Have I Got Old News for You (UK: rerun title)
    ... aka Have I Got a Little Bit More News for You (UK: rerun title (longer version))
    ... aka Have I Got the 90s for You (UK: rerun title)
        - Episode #34.8 (2007) TV episode .... Himself
  24. "Have I Got News for You: The Inevitable Internet Spin-Off" .... Himself (1 episode, 2007)
        - Episode #2.8 (2007) TV episode .... Himself
  25. "More Boys Who Do Comedy" .... Himself (1 episode, 2007)
    ... aka Dawn French's More Boys Who Do Comedy (UK: complete title)
        - Episode #1.5 (2007) TV episode .... Himself
  26. Kenny Everett: Licence to Laugh (2007) (TV)
  27. Stephen Fry: 50 Not Out (2007) (TV) .... Himself
  28. Live Earth (2007) (TV) .... Himself
    ... aka Live Earth 7.7.07 (International: English title: poster title)
    ... aka Live Earth Alert (Netherlands: festival title)
    ... aka Live Earth: The Concerts for a Climate in Crisis (International: English title)
    ... aka SOS: The Movement for a Climate in Crisis (International: English title: poster title)
  29. Comic Relief 2007: The Big One (2007) (TV) .... Himself - Host
  30. Brit Awards 2007 (2007) (TV) .... Himself - Host
  31. "Breakfast" .... Himself (1 episode, 2007)
        - Episode dated 31 January 2007 (2007) TV episode .... Himself
  32. "Big Brother's Efourum" .... Himself - Presenter (65 episodes, 2004-2007)
    ... aka Big Brother's Big Mouth (UK: new title)
        - Episode dated 28 January 2007 (2007) TV episode .... Himself - Presenter
        - Episode #5.6 (2007) TV episode .... Himself - Presenter
        - Episode #4.15 (2006) TV episode .... Himself - Presenter
        - Episode #4.2 (2006) TV episode .... Himself - Presenter
        - Episode #4.1 (2006) TV episode .... Himself - Presenter
          (60 more)
  33. Comic Relief Does Little Britain: Live (2007) (V) .... Himself
  34. Russell Brand: Doing Life - Live (2007) .... Himself
  35. The Big Fat Quiz of the Year (2006) (TV) .... Himself - Contestant
  36. "The Russell Brand Show" .... Himself - Host (1 episode, 2006)
        - Episode #1.5 (2006) TV episode .... Himself - Host
  37. The British Comedy Awards 2006 Live (2006) (TV) .... Himself
  38. The Secret Policeman's Ball: The Ball in the Hall (2006) (TV) .... Himself
  39. Russell Brand: Live (2006) (V) .... Himself
  40. The Secret Policeman's Ball (2006) (TV) .... Himself
    ... aka The Secret Policeman's Ball 2006 (Australia)
  41. "Got Issues" .... Himself - Presenter (6 episodes, 2006)
    ... aka Russell Brand's Got Issues (UK: complete title)
        - Does True Love Exist? (2006) TV episode .... Himself - Presenter
        - The Nature of Celebrity (2006) TV episode .... Himself - Presenter
        - The Paranormal (2006) TV episode .... Himself - Presenter
        - Is Sex Fucking Us Up? (2006) TV episode .... Himself - Presenter
        - Yobs: Is It Time to Fight Back? (2006) TV episode .... Himself - Presenter
          (1 more)
  42. "Movie Rush" (2006) TV series .... Himself
  43. "Annually Retentive" .... Himself (1 episode, 2006)
    ... aka Rob Brydon's Annually Retentive (UK: promotional title)
        - Episode #1.3 (2006) TV episode .... Himself
  44. "1 Leicester Square" (2006) TV series .... Host (unknown episodes)
  45. 100 Greatest Funny Moments (2006) (TV) .... Himself
  46. ShockWaves NME Awards (2006) (TV) .... Himself - Host
  47. "Richard & Judy" .... Himself (1 episode, 2006)
        - Episode dated 27 January 2006 (2006) TV episode .... Himself
  48. "Kings of Comedy" (2004) TV series .... Presenter
  49. "Comedy Lab" .... Himself (1 episode, 2004)
        - The Russell Brand (2004) TV episode .... Himself
  50. "RE:Brand" (2002) TV series .... Himself

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