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Victoria Nangle on the power of the English language and the irritation caused by it being misused

Words are powerful stuff. They can start wars, end friendships and make someone laugh so much they lose control of otherwise regularly controlled bodily functions. My goodness, the power can go right to your head and stay there interfering with the regular inhabitants of the old noggin, such as common sense, moderating facial expressions and remembering to breathe. The power of the spoken word has been demonstrated by many, with a variety of results.

David Tennant’s Doctor Who undermined a fictional prime ministership with four little words: “Doesn’t she look tired?.” Ronald Reagan narrowly avoided losing his real presidency in the 80s withanother four words: “I do not recall.” And Tommy Cooper made millions laugh themselves off their sofas with only three words: “Just like that!”

“Why have you got that apostrophe taunting me?”

And yet words are disrespected everywhere. Countless times I’ve been told I’m over-reacting to some slight of the English language that’s got my hackles up. Call it pedantry if you like, and I know I’m by no means perfect in my use of the common vernacular, but when I see a sign saying ‘WC’s’ above a toilet cubicle I just want to run over to the proprietor of the establishment and ask them: “What belongs to the woman constable? Why have you got that possessive apostrophe taunting me and others so mercilessly? And if I ask nicely will you even let me Tippex it out?” Funnily enough, correcting public signs is usually frowned upon by the said management.

This is why I love writing and watching comedy. Words are tools to be savoured, used expertly – and if you’ve seen a heckler caught in the crossfire, in the slice and dice of those Samurai wordsmiths, the seasoned comics, you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about.

Whether it’s puns, set-up-and-punch gags or shaggy dog stories, stand-up comedy is the oral tradition at its most boisterous and ostentatious. And with that comes the power. With the power to makesomeone laugh, with extremely carefully chosen words, that person can be guided to think, enquire and challenge. This is why comics illicit such strong reactions. You may not like Jim Jeffries but you’ve thought about what he has to say enough to come to that conclusion.

This power to provoke thought is nowhere more clear than in that monster of a fundraiser: Comic Relief. Ricky Gervais sending up Bob Geldof but still delivering the same message had more people viewing than Bob Geldof did when he shouted his ideas. It’s all about word choice, and if you get the right ones the world will listen to you. So stop disrespecting words. Or the anti-hecklers may get you.

High Society captures the jet-setting rich and famous of American society in the 1960s and 1970s – whether at play in the swimming pools of Malibu or the ski slopes of Verbier, photographer Slim Aarons captured the beautiful and the wealthy. In a career that spanned six decades, Aarons photographed the Kennedy family, Humphrey Bogart, Marilyn Monroe, Grace Kelly, and other elite jet-setters, often working without stylists or elaborate lighting, preferring instead to photograph celebrities in their own clothes and own surroundings. Renewed interest in his work led to two recent books, and many admirers, particularly among fashion designers such as Paul Smith and Tom Ford.

Originally a WWII photographer (where he was awarded a Purple Heart), Aarons moved to California after the war, where he began photographing celebrities. It was there that he shot his most famous photograph, The Kings of Hollywood, showing Clark Gable, Van Heflin, Gary Cooper, and Jimmy Stewart shooting the breeze.

Slim Aarons: High Society, Crane Kalman, Brighton
5 Feb-16 March
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Craig Driver talks to Alan Rickman about his role in Tim Burton’s musical adaptation of Sweeney Todd

How did you feel about taking on a role that required such a large amount of singing?
Well, it was, I suppose at this point in one’s life, you actually welcome the risk and the challenge as much as anything else. I’m not looking for safe harbours anywhere. I wasn’t really nervous, because I thought, ‘Well, if I’m terrible, they’ll just fire me’. They’re not gonna waste time and money on that. I don’t even know how to explain some of the sensations. I mean, I know it’s a great piece of work, wherever you see it, on film or in the theatre. This is like: everybody holds it as their own if they’ve seen Sweeney Todd in the theatre. And even if you just read the lyrics, it’s great work. So, you know you’re gonna do something that’s gonna sustain you all the time, because the music’s so complex and the lyrics are so complex, and the world is so dark. So add that to the fact that they’re great parts for Johnny Depp and I to be working very much with Tim Burton on and we’ve got one of the great songs of musical theatre. I just thought, well, it’s a no-brainer, really.

What was your feeling about the film being so predominantly and obviously a musical?
Well, I think one of the miracles of the film is you kind of forget that it’s a musical, because the speaking and the singing melt into each other. It’s not like, ‘And here’s a big number’. And also, when I had my one fairly nerve-wracking moment with Sondheim, that is challenging. When you’re alone in a room with a piano, a pianist, and then Stephen Sondheim walks to you and says, ‘Okay, let’s hear it’.

How was that experience, working with the man who wrote the songs and lyrics?
He was fine. And he just said, ‘Yeah, that first bit - you see here is a man infatuated with love - just more conversational’. So, that was the greatest note you could be given, and it really helped. Because it meant, you know, you don’t have to, there’s not such a pressure to sing, and that it’s all got to be like somebody thinking and speaking.

Was there anything that surprised you about working with Burton?
That he’s actually quite vulnerable at times. If you watch him, he knows what he wants but it’s an alive situation. You know, it’s not like a solid rock of certainty. It’s like an electric sort of experience, that’s what I mean by vulnerable. He’s human inside it all and nervous too, just like the rest of us.

What was it that made you decide on acting as a career?
Oh, you just answer a need. I think we all live in our head too much. And there’s the poor old neck-down bit that’s screaming for attention a lot of the time and you have to go ‘What? Oh, you want to do that? Okay.’Then you put the two together. And when your head and your body are working together, then whether you’re a chef or an actor or a cab driver, you’re doing the job you should do.

What’s next in line then for Alan Rickman?
Well, more Potter to start with and then I think I’m gonna be working with Lasse Hallstrom in the summer, which makes it a double bonus for me what with Tim and Johnny too.

Sweeney Todd (18) in cinemas now