In her new memoir, Is It Too Late to Make a Run for It?, Oscar-winning actress Dame Judi Dench admits she drove without passing her test for 30 years
She may have played James Bond’s formidable boss M, but Dame Judi Dench has admitted she broke the law for 30 years by driving without a licence.
The Oscar-winning actress, 91, reveals in her new memoir that she continued to get behind the wheel for decades despite being caught by police and fined for driving offences.
Judi, who famously played Queen Elizabeth I in Shakespeare in Love, recalls making journeys between London and Stratford in a black open-top MG sports car despite only having a provisional licence.
Speaking to fellow actor Brendan O’Hea, she says: “I really loved that car. It had a retractable roof, which wouldn’t close, and so I always drove round with a couple of handy sou’westers in the glove compartment in case it rained.
“And then I got caught going round Parliament Square.”
When a police officer asked whether she had a licence, Judi replied that she only had a provisional one.
The officer was not impressed, reporting her for the offence and for having no L-plates and driving with a broken sidelight.
“I think I was called to appear at Bow Street magistrates’ court – it was as serious as that,” says Judi.
“Anyway, I tried my luck and I wrote a letter. “Dear Sir,” I said, “on such-and-such a date I was stopped by the police and accused of not having L-plates. I did have L-plates — they were adhesive, but you know what the weather’s been like these days, my lord.”
“I actually wrote that. I was still fined £2, which was a lot of money back then.”
Brendan suggests she then drove for another ten years without a licence.
“Don’t be ridiculous,” says Judi. ” It wasn’t ten; it was 30. I was 50 when I passed my test.”
“I’m a good driver though,” she added.
Her late husband, actor Michael Williams, may have disagreed.
Elsewhere in the book, Judi recalls how one hair-raising manoeuvre nearly brought on a panic attack.
“Bum-clenching Bridge” – that’s what he christened it afterwards,” she says. “It’s a single-lane bridge and no two cars had ever passed on it. Well, they hadn’t before I came along.
“As I approached it, I saw another car heading towards us from the opposite direction. The other driver and I obviously had the same idea – that if we upped our speed we’d be able to cross the bridge in time and arrive safely on the other side.
“All I heard as I hit the accelerator was Mikey shouting, “Jude! Jude! JUDE!” He just closed his eyes.
“But we made it. Didn’t even take off a wing mirror.”
Is It Too Late to Make a Run for It? by Judi Dench with Brendan O’Hea (Penguin Michael Joseph, £25), published on October 22.
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