With her clipped tones and posh persona, people might assume Joanna Lumley lets other people do the cleaning at home, let alone beyond her front door.
But the actress, 68, has admitted to taking it upon herself to tidy mess wherever she finds it, even cleaning bathrooms at motorway service stations.
And the veteran star of James Bond and Absolutely Fabulous has criticised modern attitudes that let people feel entitled to litter the streets with rubbish.
She said: ‘I can't bear people being sick in the streets and throwing paper out of the car window.
'Back [in] the olden days we had things like “Don't Drop Litter” campaigns. At school we drew posters.
‘[When I see someone dropping litter] I say, “I think you've dropped something”, or “Pick this up and put it in the bin.” They look at you as if you're speaking Swahili.
‘[They say] “What's your problem?” They think it's odd because they've had nobody to say, “Don't you dare do that or I'll make you clean the whole street.”’
And, speaking to The Times, she added: ‘In petrol stations on the motorways where people have left the place looking messy, I clear up each lavatory I happen to have occupied.
‘When people drop paper on the ground, and everything like that, I pick it up, put it in the lavatory, and make that room look nice.
'[I] cannot see why people are allowed to get away with letting everywhere look so foul.’
This desire to keep things tidy ties into her commitment to being environmentally friendly.
Miss Lumley, an experienced campaigner for nearly 80 charities, is a staunch advocate of recycling, which she does ‘obsessively’ at the Stockwell home she shares with her husband, composer Stephen Barlow, 60.
She said: ‘Even clingfilm — if it's gone over a salad bowl, take it off, use it again. I wash out carrier bags, I save brown paper from parcels. I save string, I save ribbons. I separate all my bits and pieces. All the tins — which might contain fox food — I rinse out and put in there. I have the plastic that can be recycled in there, all the ones that can't be, and all the stuff that can go on to the garden compost.
‘I switch off lights like a maniac. I drive at reasonable speeds so that I don't waste petrol.’
In the wide ranging interview she also revealed that despite her aristocratic image, she has ‘never felt British’ and dislikes being labelled as such, describing her upbringing as ‘pan-Asian’.
She said: ‘I'm three quarters Scottish but I sound English. I don't really see British as a race. I always think now it sounds like BNP and Nigel Farage — a rather ghastly thing’.
And, returning to a subject that has brought her controversy in the past, she reiterated her belief that young women should think carefully about how the dress and act on evenings out, to avoid attracting unwanted attention.
Claiming that critics have accused her of spoiling young people’s ‘fun’, she pointed to the rape by footballer Ched Evans as an example of where things can go wrong.
She said: ‘If someone takes advantage of you and it becomes a rape none of it is fun. Being left in the street with sick down your dress is not fun.
‘And we mustn't let our daughters or granddaughters think we don't care enough about them. So this is where you wave your finger, as a woman, and say, “Don't do that.” I'm not taking away people's fun, I'm saying, “Don't do that”.
‘I think of all younger girls as my daughters, I don't care whose children they are, they are my children as far as I'm concerned.’
But the actress, 68, has admitted to taking it upon herself to tidy mess wherever she finds it, even cleaning bathrooms at motorway service stations.
And the veteran star of James Bond and Absolutely Fabulous has criticised modern attitudes that let people feel entitled to litter the streets with rubbish.
She said: ‘I can't bear people being sick in the streets and throwing paper out of the car window.
'Back [in] the olden days we had things like “Don't Drop Litter” campaigns. At school we drew posters.
‘[When I see someone dropping litter] I say, “I think you've dropped something”, or “Pick this up and put it in the bin.” They look at you as if you're speaking Swahili.
‘[They say] “What's your problem?” They think it's odd because they've had nobody to say, “Don't you dare do that or I'll make you clean the whole street.”’
And, speaking to The Times, she added: ‘In petrol stations on the motorways where people have left the place looking messy, I clear up each lavatory I happen to have occupied.
‘When people drop paper on the ground, and everything like that, I pick it up, put it in the lavatory, and make that room look nice.
'[I] cannot see why people are allowed to get away with letting everywhere look so foul.’
This desire to keep things tidy ties into her commitment to being environmentally friendly.
Miss Lumley, an experienced campaigner for nearly 80 charities, is a staunch advocate of recycling, which she does ‘obsessively’ at the Stockwell home she shares with her husband, composer Stephen Barlow, 60.
She said: ‘Even clingfilm — if it's gone over a salad bowl, take it off, use it again. I wash out carrier bags, I save brown paper from parcels. I save string, I save ribbons. I separate all my bits and pieces. All the tins — which might contain fox food — I rinse out and put in there. I have the plastic that can be recycled in there, all the ones that can't be, and all the stuff that can go on to the garden compost.
‘I switch off lights like a maniac. I drive at reasonable speeds so that I don't waste petrol.’
In the wide ranging interview she also revealed that despite her aristocratic image, she has ‘never felt British’ and dislikes being labelled as such, describing her upbringing as ‘pan-Asian’.
She said: ‘I'm three quarters Scottish but I sound English. I don't really see British as a race. I always think now it sounds like BNP and Nigel Farage — a rather ghastly thing’.
And, returning to a subject that has brought her controversy in the past, she reiterated her belief that young women should think carefully about how the dress and act on evenings out, to avoid attracting unwanted attention.
Claiming that critics have accused her of spoiling young people’s ‘fun’, she pointed to the rape by footballer Ched Evans as an example of where things can go wrong.
She said: ‘If someone takes advantage of you and it becomes a rape none of it is fun. Being left in the street with sick down your dress is not fun.
‘And we mustn't let our daughters or granddaughters think we don't care enough about them. So this is where you wave your finger, as a woman, and say, “Don't do that.” I'm not taking away people's fun, I'm saying, “Don't do that”.
‘I think of all younger girls as my daughters, I don't care whose children they are, they are my children as far as I'm concerned.’
