Stephen Fry's Blog, page 10

Cricket Speech Presented at Lord's 14th July 2009

Thank you ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much indeed. It is an honour to stand before so many cricketing heroes from England and from Australia and at this, my favourite time of year. The time when that magical summer sound comes to our ears and gladdens our old hearts, the welcome sound of leather on Graham Swann.

I have been asked to say a few words – well more than a few. "You've twenty minutes to fill," I was firmly told by the organisers. 20 minutes. Not sure how I'll use all that time

America's Place In The World

The Spectator Lecture, Royal Geographical Society, presented in London 30th April 2009

Here we are. Gathered together in the very lecture theatre where Henry Morton Stanley once told an enraptured world of his momentous meeting with Dr. Livingstone. Charles Darwin was a member and gave talks in this same hall. Sir Richard Burton lectured here and John Hanning Speke … spoke. Shackleton and Hillary displayed their intimate frostbite scars to a spellbound RGS audience. Explorers, adventurers and na

America's Place In The World

The Spectator Lecture, Royal Geographical Society, presented in London 30th April 2009

Here we are. Gathered together in the very lecture theatre where Henry Morton Stanley once told an enraptured world of his momentous meeting with Dr. Livingstone. Charles Darwin was a member and gave talks in this same hall. Sir Richard Burton lectured here and John Hanning Speke … spoke. Shackleton and Hillary displayed their intimate frostbite scars to a spellbound RGS audience. Explorers, adventurers and nav

iPhone, therefore I am – Stephen reviews Apple's iPhone 3GS

Article also published on Friday 19th June 2009 in The Guardian

A little under a year ago in this very newspaper I reviewed the Apple iPhone 3G and its new firmware release: 'Now that the Applications store is up and running," I wrote, "you will soon find it a very common sight indeed to see people crowded around each other's iPhones showing off the latest impossible, breathtaking and ground-breaking application. 'Ah, but mine can do this!' will be heard in every café and bar. Satirical sketches

iPhone, therefore I am - Stephen reviews Apple’s iPhone 3GS

Article also published on Friday 19th June 2009 in The Guardian

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A little under a year ago in this very newspaper I reviewed the Apple iPhone 3G and its new firmware release: ‘Now that the Applications store is up and running,” I wrote, “you will soon find it a very common sight indeed to see people crowded around each other’s iPhones showing off the latest impossible, breathtaking and ground-breaking application. ‘Ah, but mine can do this!’ will be heard in every café and bar. Satirical sketches

Retweet

Hello there.

You have either asked me to retweet a post or to draw the attention of my followers to a particular site. It is quite probable that you want to alert as many people as possible to a worthy cause, an extraordinary person or perhaps a landmark day or event that should be celebrated and recognised by as many people as can be reached. It is just as probable that I heartily approve of your cause and its aims. And yet I am sending you here to this page on my website instead of complying wi

Questions Questions Questions

QQQ

Questions, questions, questions. I have sent you here because you have been asking questions. No sin in that. We grow wise by asking questions. The right questions.

Twitter is defined by the tweet, a word used to describe the up to 140 character postings of its users. Tweets answer the famous questions that Kipling maintained should be answered by any piece of journalism (and micro-blogging of the Twitter kind is no exception): who, why, how, what and where? Tweets tell us who the tweeter is,

#followmestephen

You have asked me to follow you. I am touched and will do my best to do so when I get round to it. But the chances are I have missed your request. A request that is rendered no more attractive by capital letters, pretty-pleases or frantic begging. It will be easier for me to have a big follow session if you include #followmestephen in the text of your post. Then I can search easily and do a big follow session when my fingers and metacarpals are fit.

#followmestephen is an example of a hashtag. Fo

T(witter)-shirts

Nicole Stewart, the wonderful talent responsible for the graphic design of my website, has come up with some (IMHO) magnificent T-shirts which we hope will appeal. We are selling them through mysoti.com and if you have any issues regarding pricing, ordering and delivery you can be in touch with them direct via ask@mysoti.com or tweet @mysoti where Steve will be happy to help you out. <!-- thumbnail --> Prices are determined automatically by location and currency. Plenty of t-shirts on the market are cheaper than

#L Competition

Hell’s Bells what did I let you and myself in for? Don’t be angry with me, I set the competition without really thinking. It shan’t happen again. Don’t be angry if you disagree with my prize-giving either. These things are personal and in the end it was a kind of lottery, so many entries were similar that I became blind to the letter L.

To remind you. I instituted a competition to celebrate the arrival of my 50,000th follower. This was only a week and a half ago and there has since been something