It was a real honour to welcome Miriam Margolyes OBE to the stage of Oxford’s magnificent Sheldonian Theatre recently to deliver the Memorial Lecture in commemoration to our founder, Peter Roberts. 

Kindly hosted by the Oxford Literary Festival, the audience were treated to a unforgettably hilarious performance by the award-winning veteran of stage and screen, who spoke with genuine feeling about her passion for animals. 

Miriam spoke of her pride at being a Visionary for Compassion in World Farming.  She explained how she had been horrified to learn that factory farming is the biggest cause of animal cruelty on our planet. She told of how we had sent her a film to show her the many examples of what these beautiful animals have to endure during their short existence.  She was ashamed to say that she couldn’t face watching it. Simply knowing about their plight was enough to distress her terribly. 

Standing up for kindness

Miriam talked about the importance of compassion for all life, for people and for animals. She started by telling us of her experience with Tasmanian farmed salmon – poor welfare, fed an alarming amount of antibiotics, covered in lice and sores, polluting the environment and more besides.  “Two years ago, I was alarmed to find out that a food I thought was essential to health and well-being, Tasmanian Atlantic Salmon, was in fact the opposite.”  She went on to warn how she saw Scottish salmon as little different.

She talked at length about the suffering inflicted on ducks and geese force-fed for the “torture in a tin” of foie gras.

To be honest, it’s hard to do justice to the event, which was filled with so many heartfelt emotions, laughter and tears.  I asked her to leave the audience with a single thought and spontaneously she said “Oh, treasure our world, treasure our nature.  Look at it as your own treasure, something that we share. When you look out on a meadow, when you look at the sky, when you look at animals and you look into their eyes. Don’t kill them, shoot them, eat them and hurt them, but love them, cherish them and treasure them.”

Hats off!

In the words of one audience member, “I thought I couldn’t respect and admire you anymore but you still manage to raise the bar. You are such an inspiration Miriam. You could have just enjoyed the privilege of your celebrity without a care in the world for those who suffer but you do care. That’s why so many people love you.” 

I couldn’t agree more.

So, heartfelt thanks to dear Miriam for being an inspiration. I cannot thank her enough. Despite her own frailty, Miriam had made the journey to her Oxford birthplace to support Compassion, delivering a wonderful rallying lecture, a call to arms to protect farmed animals from cruelty.

Thanks too to the wonderful Sally Dunsmore, director of the Oxford Literary Festival, who so generously hosted us again this year. 

To see Miriam’s amazing lecture for yourself, please click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5H3n8BKsgUg