WHATEVER IT IS DOC, PLEASE PRESCRIBE IT…

Maureen Lipman, Blenheim Literary Festival, Oxford

******** Maureen Lipman is, god knows how ‘mature’ but hell has she got pizzaz!
I mean seriously, I thought she was middle aged when I was watching Doctor Who (and I’m talking about Jon Pertwee here).
But her entrance this evening was nothing short of joyous.
Here to promote her new book, ‘It’s a Jungle Out There’, she walked in with all the savvy and sass of May West and Jane Fonda combined.
A tour de force, literally, of wit, presence and warmth, she left me - and I’m sure everyone else - frankly beguiled. While her latest published tome, a sly, wickedly wry mash-up of animals and celebrities such as Wayne Kangarooney, Prawn French, Meryl Sheep, Pigasso and… well you get the picture - merely provided the launch pad for a stream of absurd consciousness that was both cutting and generous in equal measure.
In fact, you know that hoary old chestnut about whom, out of history, you’d most like to have dinner with, I used to say Churchill or Eve, but now I’m not so sure.
Maureen, thank you. I grinned all the way home.