Dame Diana Rigg

Diana Rigg: I have been single forever and I love every minute of it

Dame Diana Rigg wants me to tell her what her Game of Thrones fans say on Twitter. “Give me the worst,” she says. “Come on, I shan’t be shocked.”

I’ve yet to learn that the 77-year-old former Bond girl is hard to shock, so I read “gilf” in a whisper. “What’s that,” she asks, brown eyes scuttling over me. I explain it’s the grandmother version of street slang “milf”. Dame Diana claps her hands, thrilled. “Oh!” she laughs. “Oh! I’m hugely flattered. That’s just wonderful. Who wrote it? Bring them on, I say.”

Of course, Dame Diana was the sexiest woman in a catsuit ever as Emma Peel in T he Avengers in the Sixties, the only woman James Bond loved in Her Majesty’s Secret Service. She has also won a Tony award for Medea, an Olivier for Britannicus and Phèdre and many, many more. No one should be surprised that she has ardent fans. Today, in a loud-pink jersey, her pole-straight hair is dyed the colour of hay. Her cheekbones are high and imperious, her mascara thick and her expression electric.

She asks if I’ve seen Game of Thrones (she plays Olenna Tyrell in series 3, 4 and 5, for which she was nominated for eight awards and won two) and then asks if it’s any good? “I’m told it’s very popular.” She hasn’t watched it? “God, no.”

She doesn’t watch much television at all — she prefers books, growling at politicians on the radio (“they bully”) and a nice glass of prosecco (“less acid than champagne and it’s only £7.50 in Tesco’s”). She lives life exactly as she likes, which means alone (except for a housekeeper). “I’ve been single forever and, oh god, I love every minute of it. I don’t wish to sound offensive and it always does when women say that, doesn’t it?”

read the full article on The Times