Biografía

He has been very open about the fact that he suffers from bipolar disorder.

In the 1980s he shared a house in London with Hugh Laurie. They needed some plastering doing. The plasterers turned out to be Paul Whitehouse and Charlie Higson who were inspired by Fry and Laurie to have a go at comedy.

His very recognisable crooked nose is a result of breaking it when he fell over in the school playground at the age of six.

He has been described as "deeply dippy for all things digital", claims to have owned the second Apple Macintosh sold in the UK (after friend Douglas Adams) and to have never encountered a smartphone that he has not bought.

He has openly discussed his struggles with depression and attempted suicide.

The e-mail of the species is more deadly than the mail.

How can one not be fond of something that the "Daily Mail" despises?

It is quite difficult to feel that I am placed somewhere between Alan Bennett and the Queen Mother, a sort of public kitten.

On being gay: "My first words, as I was being born... I looked up at my mother and said, 'that's the last time I'm going up one of those.'"

It only takes a room of Americans for the English and Australians to realise how much we have in common.