Miriam Margolyes calls John Cleese ‘poisonous’ and blasts his ‘sour’ career in savage rant

John Cleese rules out a return to the BBC Miriam Margolyes has blasted John Cleese in a fresh rant about his alleged behaviour towards her at university as she made a dig about his “sour” career and claimed he was no longer relevant. The 82-year-old had a fair few harsh words to say about the actor, 83, who she has savagely branded a “puny tadpole of a person”. Miriam blasted the actor as she discussed how he and the late Graham Chapman allegedly treated her when they attended Cambridge University together. During the early 1960s, the actress performed alongside them as part of the student sketch troupe Cambridge Footlights, but was “completely ignored” as the group’s only woman. In that period of time, she claimed her fellow students John and Graham were also “poisonous” towards her. Read More… Sarah Lancashire details health struggle and how hidden item helped her at NTAs Miriam Margolyes branded John Cleese and Graham Chapman ‘poisonous’ in a new interview Speaking to The Guardian, she said: “I think they thought I was too full of myself because in those days women were literally not allowed to join the club. Graham Chapman and John Cleese were poisonous.” Miriam went even further when it came to the Monty Python actor, as she criticised his current status in the industry. “John was a brilliant comedian in his day, but something has turned. Like milk, he’s gone sour. He’s an irrelevance,” she added. The Harry Potter actress did however speak highly of his co-stars Michael Palin, who she called “a special man” and said Eric Idle is a “lovely” friend of hers. Miriam has previously claimed Bill Oddie was also amongst John’s friendship group at the institution who “didn’t like” her. In 2021, John broke his silence on the claims from his official Twitter page. John Cleese was branded ‘a puny tadpole of a person’ by Miriam Margolyes SUBSCRIBE Invalid email We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you’ve consented to and to improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. You can unsubscribe at any time. More info He wrote: “Miriam Gargoyles says that Graham Chapman, Bill Oddie and I behaved badly towards her when she was in the 1962 Footlights Revue. “I must defend my old friend Bill Oddie here. He wasn’t in the 1962 Footlights revue.” John followed up his post by apologising for spelling Miriam’s surname wrong in his first tweet. The actress first brought attention to John and co’s alleged behaviour in her 2021 book titled This Much is True: There’s Never Been a Me. She penned how she ‘admired’ the later creation of Monty Python and The Goodies but claimed the men were geniuses, “not gentlemen’. Trending