John Cleese and Miriam Margolyes’ Decades-Long Feud Over Cambridge Days
POLICY WIRE — City, Country — Over 60 years have passed since Miriam Margolyes and John Cleese were students at Cambridge University, yet their public disagreement over an incident from their...
POLICY WIRE — City, Country — Over 60 years have passed since Miriam Margolyes and John Cleese were students at Cambridge University, yet their public disagreement over an incident from their university days persists.
Monty Python star John Cleese has recently addressed Miriam Margolyes’ allegations on social media. Margolyes claimed that Cleese was’venomous’ towards her during a comedy performance, a claim Cleese refuted by stating he had ‘literally never met someone so brash and vulgar’.
This response follows the circulation of clips from Margolyes’ interview on The Romesh Ranganathan Show, which was released in May. In the interview, Margolyes discussed her less-than-pleasant experience with the comedy troupe Footlights at Cambridge, noting that the all-male group chose not to interact with her off-stage during a 1962 revue.
‘John Cleese and Graham Chapman were particularly venomous,’ said Margolyes, who is known for her candid remarks. ‘It wounded me terribly, and I was not invited to the cast party. I complained and attended the party, but I’ve never really forgiven them.’ She described Cleese and the late Chapman as ‘brilliant young men’ who ‘lacked that human part of the gene’, adding about Cleese: ‘I’m glad he’s old and unfunny.”
Cleese shared his perspective on the situation on X, stating: ‘Several of us, rather repressed and socially unskilled lower middle-class boys, had literally never met someone so brash and vulgar, and I’m afraid we shrank away from her. No abuse or anything. We just kept out of her way.’
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In 2021, Margolyes also criticized the late Bill Oddie, along with Cleese and Chapman, calling them a ‘total s***’ over the same incident. Oddie responded, clarifying that he had actually campaigned for women to join the Footlights troupe, which was male-only at the time.
Margolyes, who went on to play Professor Sprout in the Harry Potter films and secure roles in The Age of Innocence and Call the Midwife, has been in the headlines for her outspoken views and candid stories. Cleese, known for his roles in Fawlty Towers, Monty Python films, and the Shrek franchise, has often spoken out against cancel culture and political correctness.
Reporting by Policy-Wire (PW)
