It’s been over 60 years since Miriam Margolyes and John Cleese were at university together and yet, they’re still publicly feuding over an incident that happened in their student days.
Monty Python star Cleese has responded on social media to Margolyes’s claims that he was “venomous” to her while performing in a comedy show, with the comedian explaining that he had “literally never met someone so brash and vulgar”.
It comes after clips from Margolyes’s interview on The Romesh Ranganathan Show, which was released in May, started circulating online. In the chat, Margolyes revealed that her experience with comedy troupe Footlights at the University of Cambridge was “not joyous”, with the all-male group choosing not to speak to her off-stage while acting in a 1962 revue.
“John Cleese and Graham Chapman were particularly venomous,” said the Harry Potter star, 85, who is known for bawdy, unfiltered comments. “It wounded me terribly and I wasn’t invited to the cast party so I complained and I went to the cast party but I’ve never really forgiven them.”
She said that Cleese, 86, and Chapman, who died in 1989 aged 48, were “brilliant young men” who “lacked that thing which is a human part of the gene”, adding about Cleese: “I’m glad he’s old and unfunny.”
Sharing the clip on X on Thursday (27 August), Cleese gave his take on the fall-out, writing: “Several of us, rather repressed and socially unskilled lower middle class boys, had literally never met someone so brash and vulgar, and I'm afraid we shrank away from her.
“No abuse or anything. We just kept out of her way,” he added. “Recently, Miriam also blamed Bill Oddie for our bad behaviour. Not fair. He wasn't in the show that year. 1962, I think it was. 64 years ago. How time flies...”
The Independent has contacted Margolyes for comment.
In 2021, Margolyes called the late presenter Bill Oddie – as well as Cleese and Chapman – a “total s***” over the same incident, adding: “I’d assumed comedy was not for me after the nastiness of Footlights.”
At the time, Oddie responded to Margolyes on X, explaining that he actually campaigned for women to join the Footlights troupe, which only allowed men at the time.
Several of us, rather repressed and socially unskilled lower middle class boys, had literally never met someone so brash and vulgar, and I'm afraid we shrank away from her. No abuse or anything. We just kept out of her way
Recently Miriam also blamed Bill Oddie for our bad… https://t.co/4xOpAcBnOe
“Hey Miriam. It would really sadden me if you had me down as a Footlights mysogynist [sic],” he wrote. “I was incensed that women couldn't be ‘members’, but I got no support from the ‘all male’ council, whom I accused of not wanting the competition! Such as Germaine, Emma Thompson, and YOU! X.”
While on Ranganathan’s podcast, Margolyes said that she still bears “so much rage and irritation” over her treatment in the show, calling the Footlights men “all so mean-spirited and jealous of anybody who took their light”.
Margolyes broke into acting after leaving Cambridge, going on to play Professor Sprout in the Harry Potter films and secure roles in The Age of Innocence and Call the Midwife. However, in recent years, she’s regularly made headlines with her outspoken views, live TV slip-ups and outrageously candid stories. Last year, she revealed on This Morning that she had forgiven her End of Days co-star Arnold Schwarzenegger for apparently breaking wind in her face during filming.
Meanwhile, Cleese – who starred in BBC sitcom Fawlty Towers as well as multiple Monty Python films and the Shrek franchise – has regularly spoken out against cancel culture and political correctness. Last year, he branded BBC comedy executives “stupid” and “clowns” after being left frustrated by an ideas meeting with the broadcaster, adding that commissioners are “too influenced by the passion and nastiness of the extremely woke”.
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