Within 30 seconds, the director set me completely at ease and – rare for such a Hollywood heavyweight – beamed with pride when I asked about his golden streak

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Rob Reiner’s face took up the whole screen. That’s my immediate memory – the video link connecting and suddenly, boom, there he was in the room. Kind eyes, jolly cheekbones, a big white beard. It was May when we met but it felt like my own personal visit from Santa.

He had a personality to match, the very definition of avuncular. “So what are you up to tonight?” he asked. “Having a nice dinner out in London?” I was completely at ease within 30 seconds.

It started out as a fringe musical about an outlandish war plan – and became a West End and Broadway smash. As the show hits China, Australia and Mexico, its ‘nerd’ creators explain how they went global with a box of hats and a dream

Natasha Hodgson is wondering what to make of all the straight women who have developed a crush on her. Or, to put it more accurately, all the straight women who have developed a crush on her when she’s dressed as a second world war naval intelligence officer and speaking in a silly voice. But is it really Hodgson these woman have fallen for? Or is it Ewen Montagu, the bombastic, braces-wearing war hero she plays in the hit musical Operation Mincemeat?

“The confusion is real,” says Hodgson. “These women come to the show believing themselves to be straight, then they have a total identity crisis. But hey – if that’s not what musical theatre is for, I don’t know what is!”

With a sharp eye and saturated colours, Parr’s photographs revealed the world in all its eccentric glory. Here, his friends, peers and collaborators pay tribute to a master

Grayson Perry, artist
I’ve never really been a fanboy, but the first time I saw Martin Parr I ran up and drunkenly hugged him. I said: “I love you Martin Parr!” I couldn’t help it. He was a hero of mine. And over the years he became my best artist friend.