FIRST IMPRESSIONS: RUBY WAX
What are you working on at the moment?
I’ve been working on publicising my new book, which is out now. But now I’m working on the play of the book, Sane New World, because I’m going to be performing it next March. It will start in Cape Town and then I’ll come on tour in the UK.
When were you at your happiest?
When I got into Oxford and then when I graduated from there earlier this year.
What is your greatest fear?
Death.
What is your earliest memory?
Standing up. I remember getting up on my two legs from crawling and everybody applauding. I was a couple of years old, I think.
Who has been your greatest influence?
Alan Rickman, because he taught me how to do comedy.
What do you dislike about yourself?
My age.
What trait do you most deplore in others?
Pretentiousness.
What do you most dislike about your appearance?
My stomach.
What is your most treasured possession?
My new book!
And your favourite book?
I don’t think I have one, maybe A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry. I really like Philip Roth. He just got America in one book; his irony is big enough to be able to explain America and all our little neuroses.
Your favourite film?
The Wizard Of Oz because it’s the image of my childhood.
Your favourite piece of music?
Radiohead’s Creep: the choral version. I feel I identify with that song.
What is your favourite meal?
Breakfast, granola. It’s all I like.
Who would you most like to come to dinner?
Every dictator who ever lived.
What is the nastiest thing anyone has ever said to you?
That I couldn’t act. It was when I was in the Royal Shakespeare Company. But they were so right!
Do you believe in aliens?
No.
What is your secret vice?
Getting into other people’s photographs, like those being taken by tourists from Japan.
Do you write thank-you notes?
Sometimes, it depends who it is.
Which phrase do you most overuse?
‘So’. I always start sentences with that word.
What single thing would improve the quality of your life?
More peace.
Tell us one thing that no one knows about you.
I like to meditate. I studied mindfulness at Oxford.
What would you like your epitaph to read?
‘She tried’.
Sane New World: Taming The Mind, by Ruby Wax, is published by Hodder & Stoughton, £18.99.
I’ve been working on publicising my new book, which is out now. But now I’m working on the play of the book, Sane New World, because I’m going to be performing it next March. It will start in Cape Town and then I’ll come on tour in the UK.
When were you at your happiest?
When I got into Oxford and then when I graduated from there earlier this year.
What is your greatest fear?
Death.
What is your earliest memory?
Standing up. I remember getting up on my two legs from crawling and everybody applauding. I was a couple of years old, I think.
Who has been your greatest influence?
Alan Rickman, because he taught me how to do comedy.
What do you dislike about yourself?
My age.
What trait do you most deplore in others?
Pretentiousness.
What do you most dislike about your appearance?
My stomach.
What is your most treasured possession?
My new book!
And your favourite book?
I don’t think I have one, maybe A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry. I really like Philip Roth. He just got America in one book; his irony is big enough to be able to explain America and all our little neuroses.
Your favourite film?
The Wizard Of Oz because it’s the image of my childhood.
Your favourite piece of music?
Radiohead’s Creep: the choral version. I feel I identify with that song.
What is your favourite meal?
Breakfast, granola. It’s all I like.
Who would you most like to come to dinner?
Every dictator who ever lived.
What is the nastiest thing anyone has ever said to you?
That I couldn’t act. It was when I was in the Royal Shakespeare Company. But they were so right!
Do you believe in aliens?
No.
What is your secret vice?
Getting into other people’s photographs, like those being taken by tourists from Japan.
Do you write thank-you notes?
Sometimes, it depends who it is.
Which phrase do you most overuse?
‘So’. I always start sentences with that word.
What single thing would improve the quality of your life?
More peace.
Tell us one thing that no one knows about you.
I like to meditate. I studied mindfulness at Oxford.
What would you like your epitaph to read?
‘She tried’.
Sane New World: Taming The Mind, by Ruby Wax, is published by Hodder & Stoughton, £18.99.