Alec Guinness taught me facts of life at 8, says Emma Thompson: Actress reveals Bridge Over the River Kwai star gave 'calm response' when she questioned him

  • Alec Guinness gave 'calm and accurate' answers to Emma Thompson
  • The actress has created a sex education guide for her own daughter
  • Miss Thompson's mother, Phyllida Law, said the incident made her 'faint'
  • Miss Law also said teachers should be less austere about sex education

By Alasdair Glennie Tv Correspondent

PUBLISHED: 18:40 EST, 23 March 2014 | UPDATED: 06:12 EST, 24 March 2014

Many parents dread the moment when they have to explain the birds and the bees to their children.

But in Emma Thompson’s case, they simply enlisted the help of a rather famous family friend.

When she was just eight years old, the 54-year-old was given a sex education lesson by legendary actor Alec Guinness.

Emma Thompson learned about the birds and the bees from actor Alec Guinness
Sir Alec Guinness was 'calm and accurate' when questioned by a young Emma Thompson

Emma Thompson, left, got a 'calm' response when she questioned Alec Guinness, right, about the facts of life

The actress - who has previously admitted creating a ‘sex handbook’ for her own 13-year-old daughter - received a ‘calm and accurate response’ when she asked him for details, her mother has revealed.

Phyllida Law, who is also an actress, said she felt ‘faint’ at the time, but admitted she and her husband Eric were equally forthright when it came to educating their two daughters about the facts of life.

 

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The 81-year-old told the Sunday Times Style magazine: ‘I think I drew pictures. My husband was blunt and I did the diagrams. I think we laughed.

Phyllida Law, Miss Thompson's mother, felt faint when her daughter began questioning Mr Guinness

Phyllida Law, Miss Thompson's mother, felt faint when her daughter began questioning Mr Guinness

‘Sex is ridiculous behaviour from adults who tell you not to pick your nose. Emma, aged eight, once asked Alec Guinness about the details and he gave her a calm and accurate response: very helpful, though I felt a bit faint.

‘Sophie, then five, listened gravely, fixing him with her headlamp eyes.’

In an interview last year Miss Thompson, who has won two Oscars and two Baftas, revealed she was sexually abused by a children’s magician at her eighth birthday party.

She said the ‘old man’ offered her a sweet before sticking his tongue down her throat, adding: ‘He gave me the sweet and said, “Will you give me a kiss?” and I said yes. So I went up to kiss him on the cheek and he planted his mouth on mine, stuck his tongue in my mouth and wiggled it about.

‘I thought it was my fault - children always think it’s their fault.’  Miss Thompson also said she had created a sex handbook to arm her daughter Gaia, 13, against material she might find on the internet.

She said: ‘I drew pictures and said, you know, you can sometimes feel things in your loins you don’t feel in your heart, and you need to look at that.

‘If you listen to what’s going on in your emotional language, you will be able to keep the sexual activities safe.’

Miss Law, whose most recent TV appearance was in ITV drama Foyle’s War, revealed her second daughter, actress Sophie Thompson, 52, has equally curious children.

She said: ‘My grandson Walter, while at school, did a picture of a lighthouse, which his teacher took to be quite another thing.

‘She was not amused. Such a pity. A good laugh with a teacher on this difficult subject would be very valuable. I think she missed a trick.

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I wonder how successful Emma would've been without her 'contacts'.

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He's a Jedi master, nothing fazes him.

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I'm a nurse married to a doctor. Our children got no nonsense sex ed without the flowers and moonlight including a banana demonstration re condoms and immediate shrinkage info re need to be quickly out and done re condom. Many young girls have wailed to me they're retrieved the condom later and have no idea how they conceived as "we used protection"

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Nobody has ever matched Sir Alec's brilliance on stage and screen

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Just SO creepy.

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The more this flakey woman talks,the more I don't like her. What a wacko.

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he probably gave her a demo to drive the point home

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"puts it in there he does" (in a Yoda voice)

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lol

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My two year old son asked me where babies came from just as I was paying at the supermarket check out. I gave him a brief but accurate description and the lady behind in the queue said that was helpful she would tell,her son the same. You can't chose the time or the place and if you fob off the first time it starts a trend.

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At the check-out he was probably looking for jelly babies among the sweets.. I bet he went off them quickly after hearing that.

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You can use discretion and common sense.

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When I was 8 I thought it was pretty cool that pajama'd parents would sleep together and every now and then the bed would get a baby started. Pretty sure I would've scolded Alec Guinness for making up outrageous stories.

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