'I feel so grateful that I knew a without world technology ...human connection was different back then'

Evgeny Lebedev speaks to DAME HELEN MIRREN about science, fashion and her faith in youth

- Evgeny Lebedev

Having a conversation with Dame Helen Mirren is a bit like having a conversation with Cicero. The Oscarwinning actor is a master of the art of digression: one minute you're talking about fashion, the next you're talking about Catholic convent school and before you know it, you're on to Israel-Gaza.

As we dart from one topic to another, an overriding theme emerges: cause and effect. It underlies a wider interest we both share in science; not with a capital S but rather, the science of possibility. Of consciousness. Of big ideas. And, naturally, of gags.

I have known Mirren for years. We sat next to one another at the Evening Standard Theatre Awards about a decade ago, and we've never looked back. She is someone who can be hilariously matter of fact. "I always say, it's so sad that Kurt Cobain died when he did, because he never got to see GPS," she tells me.

"It's the most wonderful thing, my little blue spot walking down the street. I just find it completely magical and unbelievable." "But they're tracking you, Helen!" I protest.

"I know they are," she replies. "I really don't care." At 79, Mirren is not only a national treasure but one of our most remarkably ageless actors, defying long-held expectations of a woman's longevity on screen. In contemporary parlance, it's like she's ageing backwards. "I am older," she admits, although she is "fairly healthy". "I'm sure I'll go all pear-shaped soon. But I'm not interested in being young. I'm interested in being exactly who I am." Reaching this age, she says, is a privilege. "I never thought I'd be 79. I'm not full of youth, but I am life full. I much prefer that phrase...

And I feel so grateful that I lived in a world without technology for quite some time. I knew a world without technology in a deep and full sense... Human connection was a very different thing back then."

Flirting with belief