Personal Life
Margolyes is openly gay and has been with her Australian partner Heather for over 40 years. She described herself as "gay" rather than as lesbian and mentioned her relationships with women on several occasions when she appeared on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs in September 2008. She has since described herself as a lesbian on the Graham Norton Show in June, 2012. She is a campaigner for a respite care charity, Crossroads.
She appeared on the British television quiz University Challenge in 1963, whilst at Cambridge University. As part of a BBC documentary University Challenge: The Story so Far she claimed that during her appearance, she swore after getting a question wrong, although the actual word was bleeped out of the recording.
Margolyes is a lifelong admirer of the works of Charles Dickens and has performed a one-woman show, Dickens' Women, in which she plays 23 characters from Dickens's novels, all over the world.
Margolyes is a Palestinian human rights activist, having been a member of the British-based ENOUGH! coalition that seeks to end the "Israeli occupation of the Gaza Strip and West Bank." She is also a signatory of Jews for Justice for Palestinians.
Margolyes divides her time between homes in London and Australia. She would like to become an Australian citizen.
Read more about this topic: Miriam Margolyes
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