Those early experiences, she tells me, set an example. “I
loved, and also hated, the packing and leaving during an army life; moving
every two or three years, long journeys by troopships across the world. It has
instilled in me an endless desire to travel. My sister and I were taught to
love a place as soon as we arrived, made to feel everywhere was home, and the
world was full of glorious languages, climates and people with different ways
of life.”
She considers travelling to be a gift and a privilege. She
has made documentaries around the world, from the Caribbean to
Japan, India and
the Silk Road. “The greatest privilege has been meeting people from all walks
of life across the world: beggars and oligarchs, princes and peasants, nuns and
prostitutes. There is a common humanity which unites us and the poorer people
are, the more generous they tend to be. I don’t know why this is, but it’s
true. The enduring lesson is respect, courtesy and take off your dark glasses
when you talk to people.”
She is also a firm believer that fame should be put to good
use. She is a supporter and patron of several charities, including the
international wildlife charity Born Free Foundation. Perhaps most famously, she
was the face of the Gurkha justice campaign in 2008 (her father was in the 6th
Gurkha rifles) that fought to give Nepalese Gurkhas who had retired before 1997
the right to settle in the UK. It culminated with a march on Downing Street.
“It’s odd at the beginning, because you realise too late
that you will never not be recognised. ‘Aren’t you thingy from that show?’ But
use it to help others; fame attracts attention to causes which might otherwise
be kicked into the long grass or overlooked. Be kind and smile and no one
troubles you.”
She’s even helpful with the camera angles. “I make them hold
the camera high up when they want a selfie to get a more flattering angle. Men
are the worst, holding their mobile phones just above their knees.” And Joanna
has, of course, been starstruck herself. “Meeting the late queen. Everyone says
it and it’s true. Pretty close was Dirk Bogarde.” Memories of her famous scene
with Leonardo DiCaprio in The Wolf of Wall Street still linger too. “Oh
Leo, Leo! Kissy-kissy kisses! He was just divine, and as sweet a man as you
could hope to meet, besides being a mega-superstar of supreme talent and
goodness.”
Charity work can also be as humbling as it is rewarding. “I
remember a young mother in Eritrea, not long after the war had ended. I was
filming a piece for Comic Relief and it was a tough shoot, very spartan. But
this woman’s life was heartbreaking. She had lost her husband and brother in
the conflict and lived in a flimsy hut above an arid canyon with her two little
boys. I gave her a dressmaking set, with scissors and needles, thread and
thimbles, buttons and ribbons. She held it respectfully in her hands as though
it were a diamond necklace and then said quietly that she had nothing to give
me, but when I returned she would have made me an apron. I never did go back,
but I shall never forget her.
“Quite often very small charities, like Kids for Kids, punch
far above their weight because there is almost no distance between the problem
and the solution: by which I mean things can be sorted out far quicker without
having to crawl through endless board meetings and consultations. Every pound
is spent carefully, and overheads are very small. The downside is that they
often struggle to keep their heads above water, which is why I try to help as
much as I can.”
She says that if there were a soundtrack to her life, it
would be “the sound of birds singing and the wind blowing through the trees”.
And as for the hereafter? She is reassuring in that inimitable Lumley way. “I
think we rehearse for death every night when we go to sleep, a lovely rest, the
big sleep – and who knows what dreams or realities we shall encounter. But it
will be fine.”
Joanna is no navel gazer. She insists she is as shallow as a
puddle. “The world is so full of fascination for me that there is no time to
look inwards and, anyway, I know myself inside out. I have been here, being me,
all my life.”
The Kids for Kids Candlelit Christmas Concert takes place
at St Peter’s Church, Eaton Square, on December 3 at 7pm. Tickets cost £39,
children £18. Email contact@kidsforkids.org.uk;
kidsforkids.org.uk
