Hello, my name is Giles Brandreth, and I'm delighted to be introducing another edition of what some people are calling the best podcast in the world.

Well, two of those people are Harriet, my producer and me.

It's Rosebud. I hope you enjoyed. Cue the music. Hello again, or indeed hello for the first time, if this is your first time listening to Rosebud.

A special guest today, I think one of the most talented British actresses of our time.

It's Dame Kristen Scott Thomas.

You'll know her from her long and distinguished Korean movies on stage, on TV, from the witty chain-smoking Fiona in four weddings and a funeral back in the day, to Catherine Clifton in the

Oscar winning, the English patient, for which I think

Kristen was also Oscar nominated herself, and much more recently for her star turn as Diana Tavner,

the MI5 boss in the brilliant slow horses. She brings, I think, a coolness, a complexity, a sense of unspoken emotion, depth to her acting.

Anyway, today I'm going to talk to her about how it all began, about the loss of her father when she was only five,

and then tragically of her stepfather when she was, I think, only 11, about her move to France

and how she ended up being cast by Prince. This, I promise you, is a fascinating story.

Please welcome to Rosebud, Kristen Scott Thomas.

Christian, before we begin, explain your first name to us.

Ah.

My name is because my mother, when she first came to England to go to drama school,

had a Norwegian friend called Kristen with this spelling.

And she thought it was very nice.

And so, yeah.

Very good. In fact, I was christened, Christina, because the priest doing my christening would have none of this foreign stuff.

So I was

Christina yes Christina yes very good but Kristen is how we said yes Kristen we

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