A straw poll of my friends revealed they all knew the name Gyles Brandreth, but few could tell me exactly who he is or what he’s done. Some recalled him from his lurid jumper days on TV-am, others from Countdown, or from his more recent work on The One Show.
No one recalled his time as a Conservative whip and junior minister in John Major’s Government, or the fact that he was a theatre producer and pretty fair stage actor in his younger years.
This comes through in his diction: he’s clear, mannered, possesses an enormous vocabulary, and speaks almost entirely without misstep. Gone is the deliberately disastrous fashion sense, replaced by a sharp suit that complements his urbane presence.
Almost his entire show is anecdotal and, despite its title, few of these are from his time on The One Show.
Some relate to Countdown: there’s a delightful anecdote about the series’ late host Richard Whiteley, who was a great friend of Gyles, while many of the best tales are from the time of his political career.
As a junior minister in the Treasury, it was Gyles’ job to sign the Government’s larger cheques. The biggest of these required two signatures: Gyles’ and the Queen’s.
At one point, he had to sign a cheque for £136 billion. “In those days that was serious money,” he quips. “Though I appreciate that these days it might be just enough to get the Royal Bank of Scotland through a difficult weekend.”
Once, when adding his name next to Her Majesty’s, he claims to have said to The Queen: “I don’t know which one of us it is they don’t trust.”
Whether he’s talking about John Prescott, the ‘turnip’ of a stage manager at the Pleasance, the new coalition government, John Major’s streetwise ways, pornography or Oxford University, he’s thoroughly engaging company.
I’ve no idea if these tales are partially or fully true: he’s easily cheeky and irrepressible enough to have said and done every one of these things, but they also have the air of well-polished stories that may have had limbs added to them over time. Either way, they’re very entertaining, which is the main thing.
Because of the strange and meandering nature of his career, I’m never quite sure how famous Gyles Brandreth is. The answer is: famous enough to draw a sell-out crowd in the 320-capacity Pleasance One on a Tuesday afternoon.Gyles Brandreth: The One to One Show is on at the Pleasance Courtyard at 4.30pm until August 29 (not August 18).