National treasure Miriam Margolyes has a heartto -heart with ROXY BOURDILLON about love, lesbianism and her extraordinary life so far

“I have no secrets.” These are exactly the words you want to hear when you’re interviewing someone, especially when that someone is BAFTA-winning actress, bestselling memoirist and outrageously entertaining national treasure Miriam Margolyes. True to her word, as we sit together for an hour in the study of her South London home, she is thrillingly, often hilariously, candid. Our conversation ranges wildly, spanning everything from her family history and the atrocities in Gaza to the joys of lesbian sex, and that time she posed for Vogue’s Pride Issue, nude aside from a pearl necklace and two strategically placed iced buns. “They came, a whole army of them, and took over the house,” she tells me with precise enunciation, marvelling at the memory of her high-fashion cover shoot. “They had rails of clothes, bags and scarves. A woman did my nails. It was extraordinary.”

Photos Photos Billie Charity and Hay Festival

“I’m gay and I’m really pleased I am. I wouldn’t be straight for anything”

At 83, Miriam is as quick-witted and twinkly-eyed as ever. I tell her she looks fabulous in her sage green jumper and bright orange scarf. She replies, “I’m not totally fabulous, but I’m a decent soul.”

Spectacularly eccentric, she is famous for munching raw onions and radishes like they’re apples, and farting in public with gusto. Cards on the table, she’s been on my interviewing bucket list since I first started working at DIVA. In person, she is everything I’d hoped she’d be, i.e. an absolute hoot. But there’s more to Miriam than unique habits and saucy humour. As well as being fiercely intelligent, I find her to be kind and endearing. A gracious host, she ensures I’m hydrated, offers me cake and invites me to her show. She is also inquisitive, asking me plenty of questions about myself, all the while making penetrating eye contact. Genealogy is one of her keen interests, and she urges me to look into it and trace my own family history. “I love connection with people,” she explains. “That, for me, is glorious.”