I asked Dawn French how she would describe herself. She went with ‘fat bird who got lucky' - Nick Ahad

I kid. The South Yorkshire location was my home for the weekend thanks to the Underneath the Stars festival, an event built around local girl Kate Rusby, who headlined the Sunday night of the weekend extravaganza.

Paul Carrack followed Eddi Reader on the Friday night – it’s a small festival with pretty impressive punching power.

On the Sunday afternoon I was delighted to be asked to interview Dawn French on the mainstage. We were ostensibly there to talk about French’s new book, Because of You, which is by the by a beautifully written and emotionally impactful book.

With the story of a baby being snatched from her mother and the fallout from the event, we could easily have filled an hour talking about Because of You, but I suspect the audience might have found that a little unsatisfying.

There is far more than ‘just’ the new book to talk about when it comes to Dawn French, a remarkable woman who has made a major impact on British culture.

We talked about her days with the Comic Strip, which she and Jennifer Saunders auditioned for and were accepted into because ‘they were desperate for women performers’.

She regaled the audience with anecdotes about those early days with Alexei Sayle compering the nights in anarchistic fashion, watching up close the genius of Robin Williams, who would pop along to try out new material, of sharing a stage with Rik Mayall and Ade Edmondson.

She told the story of how she turned down the role of the Vicar of Dibley because it seemed a ‘bit twee’, and that Richard Curtis was only able to persuade her to take the part when he showed her the list of other actors he was going to approach if she said no.

Clearly, I didn’t have to worry about a lack of material from French to fill the hour. What was a challenge was something seemingly simple – how to introduce her? I went with ‘writer, actor, comedian, face of Terry’s Chocolate Orange, national treasure, Dawn French’.

My first on stage question was how she would describe herself. She went with ‘fat bird who got lucky’. Self-deprecating, funny, far too modest, it felt like an insight.

The ‘lucky’ thing is that she gets to pursue her passions. I realised as we spoke that – we can all do that.

If she hadn’t become a comedy superstar, you couldn’t help but feel that she’d still be getting up on stage with her friend Jennifer and trying to make her laugh with daft sketches.

Inspiring stuff.