Page 287 - FINAL_Guildhall Media Highlights 2019-2020 Coverage Book
P. 287
16 April 2020
Sixty Seconds with
Freddie Fox
by Sue Crawford
■ The actor, 31, talks about cooking
in lockdown, life in the Fox dynasty
and the National Brain Appeal’s Story
Time
Why are you supporting The
National Brain Appeal’s Story Time?
My mother had her life saved by a brain operation at the National Hospital for Neurology and
Neurosurgery in Holborn when I was a little boy so I’ve always been indebted to the hospital.
She had a build-up of fluid that was trapped where her skull meets her spine. It was putting
pressure on her brain so she had to have it drained. She had Chiari decompression surgery,
where they drilled through her skull into her brain to release the pressure.
You’re reading stories alongside other celebrities. How do the
stories help?
They’re to help distract people with a lovely story in a difficult time and in doing so donate to
an emergency fund for staff at the hospital, who are under enormous pressure with the Covid-
19 outbreak. The fund is to help the staff have whatever they need, whether it’s for an
emergency at home, healthy snacks during the day, toothpaste — anything to help make their
day pass more smoothly. The stories are read by different actors. They’re around five to ten
minutes long and one comes out every day.
What have you chosen to read?
I went back to the Sherlock Holmes stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. My dad [actor Edward
Fox] would read me stories when mum wasn’t well. I read The Adventures Of The Speckled
Band where Holmes and Watson wait in a darkened house that has a menagerie of weird
animals. I added some philosophy from Marcus Aurelius at the end.
How are you coping with lockdown?
I’ve got into Jamie’s 30-Minute Meals. I’ve cooked eight and I now feel like I’m about ready to
open my first Michelin- starred restaurant. I’m also reading and doing jigsaw puzzles. We’ve
just got a 1,000-piece one, which is the map of England according to Shakespeare.
Can you manage to get any exercise at the moment?
