Spitting Image
What a trouper Judi Dench is! Before dinner at Dumfries House she’d been interviewed on a marquee stage for more than an hour. The event having sold out, they’d filmed it for a screening the following morning. But as the second audience waited, the recording wouldn’t play. Panic! Dame Judi abandoned her breakfast and did it all over again. She’s 83.
She can also impersonate llamas. Discussing mine, she described how she’d once been almost caught in the crossfire as one llama prepared to spit at another. Then she mimicked with total accuracy the cheek and jaw movements of a camelid gathering saliva.
It was so realistic I almost ducked. And thought I might need to as I confessed disappointment that her interviewer hadn’t asked her about the impersonator Tracey Ullman’s priceless sketches of Dame Judi (and other stars) as imagined shoplifters. “Oh,” she said, “if only he’d asked. Hilarious! Isn’t Ullman brilliant!”
this is especially for mrs-evelyn-greenslade who was actually there! and got a picture with judi!!!! (lucky lucky girl!)
