Complicated, Brilliant, Beautiful, Political: Joan Bakewell at Humber Mouth By Maggie Hannan

10th November 8pm £10 (no concessions) Hull Truck Theatre, Spring Street Box Office 01482 323638

When I booked Will Self to visit Pave in June, I took a close look at his latest book Dorian. I was surprised to notice that he'd dedicated the novel to Joan Bakewell. It seemed unlikely - the bad boy of British fiction being linked to that pillar of the establishment, Joan Bakewell. But of course it all makes sense: Self's book is based on the work of Oscar Wilde, who was imprisoned for his sexuality. Earlier in the year, Joan Bakewell was threatened with prosecution under the Blasphemous Libel laws for reciting an erotic gay poem about Christ on TV. Had the prosecution gone ahead, she could have faced a prison sentence.

While this might point up the absurdity of the law, it also reminded me that Joan Bakewell has always taken risks and has a strong - and left wing - sense of principle. 'I was making a point' said Bakewell, characteristically. She has also had one of the most remarkable careers in broadcasting, spanning nearly half a century. She has met and interviewed over a thousand people: Vaclav Havel, Marcel Duchamp, Bridget Riley, Margaret Thatcher. The list reads like a who's who of the twentieth century.

If all this sounds glitzy and remote, it is worth remembering that Joan Bakewell grew up in Stockport in a family which had few ambitions for her and under the shadow of her mother's frequent depressions. She was the first girl at her school to win a place at Cambridge, and from then on she worked hard to 'make' herself.

I find the nature of her celebrity fascinating. While being famously lovely and having had her fair share of personal difficulties, she has somehow avoided trading on the merely confessional, and has consistently resisted attempts by others to package her as only famously lovely. She happily describes herself as a feminist. She has also had one of the most remarkable careers in broadcasting, spanning nearly half a century. She has met and interviewed over a thousand people: Vaclav Havel, Marcel Duchamp, Bridget Riley, Margaret Thatcher. The list reads like a who's who of the twentieth century.

So, Joan Bakewell: complicated, brilliant, beautiful, political. I think that deserves respect.

Continued on www.thisisull.com...... The Humber Mouth Homepage.

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