At Apple’s own iTunes Festival in London, Fry used a lecture to call his favourite computer maker the “big tobacco” of online music, and compared the guilty pleasure of illegal downloading to masturbation, Stuff.tv says.

Fry: “The last thing I illegally downloaded - was it a gay sex romp? ... It was the season finale of House.” He had already downloaded the whole series legally but needed to download the final episode of the show, which stars former comedy partner Hugh Laurie, while traveling in Indonesia, Fry said. Later, via Twitter: “Hope I’m not misunderstood. Such a pity if I get misrepresented as a ‘help yourself and be a pirate’ advocate ...”

Still, who needs 15-year-olds? We think Fry’s knack for telling it like it is is getting better and better…