Ian Hislop
Ian Hislop
Ian David Hislopis a British journalist, satirist, writer, broadcaster and editor of the magazine Private Eye. He has appeared on many radio and television programmes, and is a team captain on the BBC quiz show Have I Got News for You...
NationalityWelsh
ProfessionComedian
Date of Birth13 July 1960
common enjoy conditions
I get paid to do what I enjoy, not that common a condition.
people stories film
I like making films about old people because they are repositories of amazing stories that they tell well. And they're incredibly good telly.
trying belief weak
I do have a residual belief that, if at all possible, you should try not to mock the weak
mother witty clever
My mother was a terrific force in my life. Wartime-generation woman, hadn't gone to university but should have done. Was very funny, very verbal, very clever, very witty.
strong comedy weak
The best comedy is where you attack the strong, not the weak.
people bars stories
Internet journalism is not a world we know very well at all. It's conducted more on the screen and less in bars, which makes it rather less useful for getting stories about people throwing up over one another, which is what one's after.
war shells world
England Their England by AG Macdonell which was written in the thirties and is about a young Scotsman who's got shell shocked during the First World War… I love it.
pride proud modesty
Modest about our national pride - and inordinately proud of our national modesty.
thinking rest-of-your-life problem
You have a huge amount of confidence when you're younger, which slowly ebbs away for the rest of your life. You think: 'No problem. I can do that. Why shouldn't I do it?'
mean people peculiar
I've got a very peculiar sort of fame, based on being on the telly. It doesn't mean you have the lifestyle people expect.
awful sticks news
There's an awful lot of terrible television which I could do, but I mostly stick to Have I Got News for You.
people daily-mail bears
In Britian we have a free press. It's not a pretty press, but it's free. The people who can't bear the Daily Mail, they say: 'you should ban it'. No no, no no, you don't ban it... you don't buy it.