Happy 75th anniversary of the release of Scott of the Antarctic, whose filming in the Swiss Alps caused frostbite among the crew. Thankfully, Sir John Mills was on hand to… er, set light to his farts
John Mills is not a man you associate with laddish behaviour. This, after all, is one of the great actors of the 20th century, a knight, a rock-solid family man, a good egg — and Hayley’s dad to boot.
So it’s a shock to discover what he once got up to with his Zippo. “I was quite famous for lighting farts,” says Sir John, who will soon be 92. “You lie on your back with your legs in the air. One time at David Niven’s when I clicked the lighter, the flame was like a Bunsen burner — a foot long and blue. Sensational. Niven laughed so much he had to be taken to hospital.”
Mills did not limit such antics to frivolous showbiz soirées. During the shooting of Scott of the Antarctic — where the crew got frostbite — his gift was a lifesaver. “We were stuck on top of the Jungfrau and the weather closed in on us for four days.” It looked pretty grim. “So I did a terrific one and it put the whole unit right. I’d had some grapes for lunch and they worked a treat.”
23 years late, I’d like to thank Fiachra Gibbons for finding that out.
