Stephen Fry

Above: signed photograph of Stephen Fry in the window of a Cambridge cakeshop. The note praises the shop’s Chelsea buns. Stephen Fry attended Queens’ College Cambridge.

It was a criticism of the United Kingdom in the nineteenth-century that it was a society controlled by four hundred families (aristocracy, land-owning gentry, industry-owning plutocracy).

Arguably you could say of today’s society that it is controlled by four hundred individuals working in the media (owning the media, writing for the media, presenting media broadcasts, “regulating” the media, distributing the media, “creating content” for the media). They appear to compete with each other, but as a class they act together to create a consensus and so reinforce social stability. On the downside they decide which voices get heard and which do not (and thus this broad media oligopoly controls “democracy”).

One of the most influential of the media “aristocracy” (or “aristos” if you prefer) is the actor, writer, presenter Stephen Fry. For the last twenty years his presence has been ubiquitous. Through extraordinary levels of energy and prodigious talent he has become tremendously popular.

His popularity can be distilled to the single attribute that he is (or certainly appears to be) very good company. Amusing, sympathetic, empathetic, he is someone you feel is always on your side. Even in the midst of histrionics, he is always very likeable.

However, his autobiography Moab Is My Washpot shows that he has not always been a likeable person. Has he become a different person? Or is his current persona a superb and sustained piece of acting?

The reason I ask these questions is that his popularity has made him very powerful. If he were to speak in favour (or against) any issue it would command attention (far more so than the opinion of any backbench MP or even junior government minister). This sort of power makes me uneasy since it is unaccountable.



Above: Stephen Fry is enthusiastic about “gadgets”. In marketing terms he is thus innovative-prone, an early-adopter and an opinion-former. The latest entry on his blog (11th December) runs to 9,470 words on the subject of mobile communications.

Stephen Fry’s blog: http://www.stephenfry.com/blog/