The TV favourite and popular podcast host tells of the amazing treatment little Kitt received at Great Ormond Street Hospital, as he throws support behind the charity’s latest incredible campaign
A star of everything from Celebrity Gogglebox to QI, Gyles Brandreth is also close friends with the Queen. But to 10-year-old Kitt Evans he is simply “Grandpa.” And it was as Grandpa that he brought some simple warmth into Kitt’s life when, at just 15-months-old, he was diagnosed with a rare soft tissue cancer. He says: “My relationship with Kitt is very easy, he’s a confident and outgoing little chap. I felt my role was to be normal – just grandpa. I would turn up in one of my jumpers and we’d build things together. I’d build them up and he’d knock them down.”
Gyles is speaking to support the Omaze Cornwall House Draw, in aid of Great Ormond Street Hospital Charity. For it was at GOSH that Kitt received lifesaving care for his embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma cancer. Gyles, 77, recalls: “You never think cancer will happen to you. But then you get the call, and we got one from our daughter Saethryd. ‘We’re having tests, we’re a bit worried’.”
READ MORE: ‘Life-enriching generosity’ – Mirror Christmas appeal raises an incredible £30k
After finding a hard pea-sized lump below his tummy when she changed his nappy, Saethryd Brandreth, 48, a writer, who also has a son, Rory, 19, with her Army veteran husband Mark Evans, 48, co-founder of the charity Waterloo Uncovered, thought he was too young for it to be cancer.
But Kitt was diagnosed in April 2017 and admitted to GOSH for treatment. Gyles says: “It was such a shock. And, of course, you fear the worst. But the moment you hear the words Great Ormond Street, you feel reassured. They have such a great reputation, world famous, world class. And so it proved. The team were matchless at every level from the consultants to the cleaners. But then began a very long journey. What you’re really doing is, for as long as it takes, holding your breath.”
Gyles, whose father and older sister died of cancer, continues: “In my parents’ generation, nobody ever talked about cancer. It was a horror diagnosis. The word was never used. Thankfully that is changing.”
A regular on BBC Radio 4’s Just A Minute since the 1980s, Gyles says Kitt had an operation to remove his tumour, followed by chemotherapy. He says: “It was hard when he started chemo and lost his hair. My job was to play. GOSH has a great playroom, so I’d be found in there with him. I love jigsaws, Kitt and I do lots of them.”
Grandpa and grandson also learned poems together. Gyles continues: “I’ve got a lot of silly poems that I like to recite, and so we did those together. And he remained pretty buoyant under the circumstances, considering it’s all very alarming. Because of the treatment, the people who are helping you sometimes appear to be hurting you when you’re little.”
A fabulous storyteller, Gyles – who recently released a book to celebrate the centenary of Winnie the Pooh, called Somewhere, a Boy and a Bear: The Remarkable Life of A.A. Milne and the Legacy of Winnie the Pooh – also made sure they regularly featured.
He says: “My favourite story as a child was Peter Pan. And did you know that all the royalties were given by writer JM Barrie to GOSH? I knew the real Christopher Robin, I became a friend of his in the 1980s. He didn’t like being Christopher Robin. He loved it when he was little, but got a bit fed up. It’s a lovely book, Winnie the Pooh, full of life and fun.”
Gyles, who has been married to writer and publisher Michèle Brown, 77, since 1973 and has three children with her – Saethryd, Benet and Aphra, as well as seven grandchildren – clearly adores his family.
During the year that Kitt spent in hospital, he and Michèle would sometimes sleep at GOSH to give his parents a break. Gyles continues: “Whenever I’m on television my wife Michèle, or ‘MoMo’ as Kitt calls her, says the family should be watching from behind the sofa. She says: ‘The best way to see grandpa on TV is with the sound turned down’.”
Gyles, who also presents popular podcast Rosebud, which has featured interviews from Joanna Lumley to Sir Keir Starmer, makes sure his first question is always: “What is your first memory?” He explains: “It’s based on my belief that your childhood lasts a lifetime – all bright and brilliant.
“Therefore, how childhood illness is treated is crucial. You can be 82 and what happened to you in your childhood can have informed your whole life. So it’s a special issue for people like Kitt, who spent a year in hospital – these are the years that form you. He will remember – and does remember, and is quite articulate about it.”
Given the all clear in November 2017, Kitt’s treatment says Gyles, who lives in Barnes, south west London, was superb. Wearing a heart jumper, as he says his heart “belongs to GOSH,” he adds: “They took such good care of Kitt, and I am so relieved to say that he now goes back only once a year for a checkup.”
Gyles, who raised more than £100K for GOSH Charity with his 75th birthday show in March 2023 – Gyles & Judi and All the Dames – at London Palladium, continues: “There were a dozen dames – Judi Dench, Twiggy, Joanna Lumley and more.
“Brilliantly, Kitt came onto the stage to take a bow and to say thank you, introduced by Dame Joan Collins. But before he did, we played the video of Kitt on the day he rang the bell [indicating he was in remission]. It was very moving. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house.”
Gyles, who will be touring later this year with his theatre show Can’t Stop Talking, says: “My show reflects the problem I’ve had with talking all my life. I had three older sisters, and when I was a little boy, about seven, they wrote a letter to my parents – they were teenagers – saying, ‘Dear Mummy and Daddy, if we pool our pocket money and give it back to you, can you afford to send Gyles to boarding school? He won’t stop talking. And we can’t stand it’.
“I have been talking now for 70 years and I just can’t stop. Kitt is a bit of a chatterbox too. He gets it from me. It’s in the genes.”
Recalling the day when she discovered Kitt’s tumour, Saethryd, who lives in Bali, says: “My stomach dropped, but I thought, ‘don’t be ridiculous, he’s a baby’. With Kitt’s cancer, survival rates can vary a lot but are around 70% for children. Kitt had a better prognosis because of the tumour’s location, type and early diagnosis.”
But treatment was far from straightforward. As well as multiple general anaesthetics, he had several blood and platelet transfusions and complications including a reaction to chemotherapy that caused a dangerous liver disorder and required a month in hospital.
She is delighted that her dad was able to share his wonderful sense of fun with her ailing son – something she treasured growing up. She says: “My childhood was lovely and happy, I grew up in West London in Notting Hill, there was lots of imagination, play and reading.
“My dad was always very good at bedtime stories. He makes a good fish finger sandwich too!” Delighted that her son is now in remission, she continues: “Kitt now has the same chance of getting cancer again as anyone else, which is amazing.
“He’s so funny, he tells my friends he’s had cancer to get an extra lolly. We’re so proud of him. I feel so lucky that he’s come through it. Our story has a happy ending. He’s a wonderful little boy.”
Louise Parkes, Chief Executive of GOSH Charity says: “We’re so pleased to hear that Kitt has recovered so well from his cancer and that the support we gave him and his family made such a difference.”
In the run up to World Cancer Day on February 4, GOSH Charity is calling for kinder treatments for children with cancer – 220 of whom lose their lives to the disease daily in the UK. It’s something their new world-leading children’s cancer centre will enable, by giving greater access to clinical trials – also providing other elements that will make their lives easier, like outside space and a hospital school.
Ms Parkes says: “With World Cancer Day around the corner, we are very grateful to Gyles Brandreth for shining a light on the impact of cancer treatment on children and how vital it is that they have access to the best possible treatments and cutting-edge facilities.”
*Gyles is supporting the Omaze Cornwall House Draw in aid of Great Ormond Street Hospital Charity (GOSH Charity), helping to fund a world-leading cancer centre that will transform children’s cancer care and save lives. Enter before 22 February for a chance of winning a house worth £4million plus £250,000 in cash at omaze.co.uk
READ MORE: Corrie’s Helen Flanagan slams soap after being ‘expected to parade in knickers’ aged 16
