I love many things about Miriam Margolyes, but my new favourite is how much she adores Aberdeen.
The national treasure was performing Oh Miriam! live to a packed-out audience at the Music Hall this weekend – the last night of the tour.
And it was clear from the start after the very warm reception that it was going to be a great night.
From almost the minute she appeared on stage she had me doubled over, belly laughing from the potty-mouthed humour she so effortlessly oozed.
As you would expect the sharp-tongued, witty and yet incredibly sweet national treasure had the crowd eating out of the palm of her hands.
Nothing was off limits and no one was safe – especially the Conservative Party.
The first act followed a question and answer session with Captial Radio DJ Fat Brestovci.
She spoke fondly of famous faces including her friendship with Graham Norton and Dame Maggie Smith.
Global politics were high on the agenda – including how Benjamin Netanyahu should be rotting in jail and referred to Donald Trump as ‘The Big Orange’.
She also touched on the dire state of the world today, exclaiming “It’s the worst it has ever been”.
But the negativity changed the second she started to talk about Scotland.
She recounted tales of her father, a Jew born and raised in the Gorbals in Glasgow and how she grew up knowing her Scottish heritage.
In the second act, the audience was allowed to fire questions at the woman herself so I took the plunge and asked her what she thought of our fair city.
After exclaiming that she thought our accents were posh she said: “I love Aberdeen, the Granite City, the colour of the houses are gorgeous! There’s nothing like it anywhere else.”
The Harry Potter star said she loved this part of the world so much she used to own a home in Fordyce with actor Bill Paterson.
She added: “This part of the north-east of Scotland is beautiful and the people have a good way of talking and there are distilleries here and I like the whisky.
“It’s elegant and sophisticated. And the kippers – I just adore it!”
Miriam ended the night by reading two excerpts from Charles Dickens’ books, and for me, the highlight of the night, as an English lit graduate, was to see her perform from Great Expectations. It was wonderful.
Even if that wasn’t your type of thing, you couldn’t not be mesmerised by her and it had the whole audience on their feet.
The ticket to her show came with a copy of her book Oh Miriam! which is out now. You can buy it here.
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