Honorary Graduates
Orations and responses
Response by Helen Mirren
Thank you so much Chancellor for that wonderful oration, thank you.
It is a great honour, of course. As I was hearing that litany, you know, your
life gets longer and longer. It is terrifying and wonderful the fact that it
just doesn’t stop. I keep expecting it to stop somewhere but it doesn’t, it just
rolls on and before you know where you are they are saying things like "you have
been in the business for 40 years", and it is kind of wonderful and kind of
dreadful all at the same time.
I grew up in Southend-on-Sea not far from here with my sister, Kate, and my
brother and my mum and dad. They were sort of escapees from the East End because
that is where they lived before and they thought that Southend was Nirvana
because there was the beach and there was air and they thought that it was a
great place to bring up three kids, and they were right. It was wonderful. I had
a great education in a School called St. Bernard’s Convent - my sister and I
were discussing that earlier on – it was just a grammar school and it was a
convent, so it had certain side issues related to that, especially as we were an
extremely left wing communist family which didn’t help. It was actually a
wonderful education and I would put it up against any education in any modern
school nowadays.
From quite a young age I wanted to be an actress. It was the only thing that
I was really any good at. I was OK at other subjects but that was what I was
really good at, but it seemed the impossible dream at the time. At that time
only posh people became actors. They were the only people who could afford to go
to drama school and I am afraid that it has gone a little bit round back into
that same circle again because it is so difficult, I know, for drama students to
get grants to go and study. So I thought that I would go a different route. I
thought I’d sit on a bench on Southend Front and hope that a producer might
drive by and screech to a stop and say "You’re the one for me".
It didn’t happen needless to say so I had to go another route which was sort
of meandering and strange and random, but I did follow my heart at every point
of the way. I am certainly not here to give anyone advice because coming from me
that would not be a very good idea. If I do have any advice I think that the
only thing I have really learnt over those years is ultimately to understand and
believe in your own instinct. And that is sort of a dangerous thing to say
because it is such a "woolly" sort of thing, instinct. But I think that we all
have it and if you do really, really look into your heart at those moments of
terrible decision, try and hear what your instinct is telling you, even if it is
telling you what everyone else is telling you not to do. You mustn’t mislead
yourself and pull the wool over your own eyes but ultimately I honestly believe
that listening to your instinct will work.
So, anyway I don’t want to talk about myself because it is your day and I so
congratulate you on your achievement. I think that it is fantastic. I would have
loved to have gone to University myself but I didn’t get there, so well done all
of you guys. Have a great day and enjoy. You will never forget it.
Thank you.
Helen Mirren
14 July 2004