LION’S SHARE Bumbling children’s entertainer Jeremy Lion – famous for his inebriated approach to stagecraft – explores some pressing environmental issues in his new show. He’s still got time for the kids, however, and was more than happy to answer the questions that popped into our mailbox from members of the Lion fanclub
Ha ha! Of course I don’t paint myself green, don’t be so stupid. It’s an educational play about the dangers of global warming, aerosols, leaving the tap running and ice caps. I go on a special journey to learn all about the world around us and how we’ll all die if we don’t sort things out. I saw Al Gore’s Inconvenient Truth film and I was very impressed. If I’m honest I don’t know how it ended as I had to nip out and get to the Costcutter before they shut but I imagine it all gets pretty terrible.
Of course not. I perform serious educational dramas for youngsters – to drink alcohol during them would be utterly inappropriate. Your father probably saw me drinking a healthy fruit smoothie or energy drink which happened to be in a wrongly labelled bottle. Easy mistake.
My father, Uncle Lion, was a children’s entertainer so I’m really following in his footsteps. He was a cracking entertainer. They sent him out to Suez to entertain the troops and they sent him back after one day. Just one day! That’s all it took for him to entertain an entire army. Very talented man. Apart from his clown routine, which was considered racist even in the 1950s. 18 THE LIST 12–19 Aug 2010