Some wisdom from Stephen Fry

For the third day running I am blogging about a Steve, though it is very rare to hear the erudite national treasure Stephen Fry referred to as Steve.  But technically he is a Steve in my book.

I am just a couple of years younger than Stephen Fry and have sort of grown up with him.  I can certainly remember when he was one of a new set of entertainers that had just made it onto television. Originally he wasn't really the most prominent of them by quite a long chalk.  In fact I can remember wondering why he was bracketed with a group that seemed a fair bit more talented than him.  And yet he has stuck with it and with the possible exception of his one time partner Hugh Laurie he is the one who has done the most really good work.

Now I remember the precise moment when I picked up on Stephen Fry as someone  to watch out for. He was being interviewed on some programme some time in the eighties.  I don't remember who was interviewing him or why, or what the year was or anything at all actually.  What I do remember is what he said, though I dare say after all this time my memory has heavily paraphrased it.

What he said was imagine you decided to change how you signed your name.  You have signed your name thousands and thousands of times, so it will take quite an effort to change it.  And for the first few times it will be hard and take a long time to do something you used to be able to do without thinking.  And for a long time after you have chosen to change it, you will be acting in an artificial way.  For a long time it won't really be your signature.  So in a sense for a while you are a fake.  It is only when your new signature has really taken over the place the habitual one used to fill that you will become genuine again.

I haven't read all Stephen Fry's books or watched all his output, so my apologies if this is something he has talked about at length somewhere else.  I only remember the one instance and have never heard anyone refer to it since.  But I have noticed that Stephen Fry has gradually turned into the man we know and love today, and I imagine that in the process he as consciously changed a lot more than just his signature.