Dame Judi Dench has revealed a mischievous anecdote from her childhood, in which she shoved a dead rat through a neighbour's letterbox as a prank.
The veteran actress, 91, made the admission in an interview with the BBC's This Natural Life podcast. She explained that she had done so on behalf of her brothers, who had lost cricket balls to a neighbour's garden.
The neighbour, Miss Lazenby, refused to return the balls or throw them back, leading Dame Judi's brothers to come up with a creative solution. They found a dead rat in the barn, parcelled it up, and asked Dame Judi to deliver it to Miss Lazenby's door.
Dame Judi was successful in her mission, but it ultimately didn't lead to the return of her brothers' balls. Instead, they were forbidden from playing cricket again.
Dame Judi's acting career has spanned decades, with notable roles in Mrs Brown, Pride & Prejudice, and the James Bond franchise. She won an Oscar for her performance in the 1998 romcom Shakespeare in Love and has also garnered numerous other awards, including a Tony Award and two Golden Globe Awards.
However, in recent years, Dame Judi has scaled back her acting work due to poor health. She was diagnosed with age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and has struggled to maintain her vision. In 2024, she suggested that she had quietly retired from acting.
Dame Judi grew up in York with her older brothers, Jeffrey and Peter, both of whom were prominent figures in the world of theatre. Jeffrey was a renowned actor who worked extensively with the Royal Shakespeare Company, and Peter was a GP in York for several decades. Dame Judi credited her brother Jeffrey with inspiring her to become an actress.
