Dame Helen Mirren has been caught in a snowstorm of controversy. The Oscar-winning actress admitted in an interview with GQ that she had smoked cannabis in the past and when pressed whether she had tried anything else she replied, "A bit of cocaine. I loved coke. I never did a lot, just a little bit at parties.

"But what ended it for me was when they caught Klaus Barbie, the Butcher of Lyon, in the early 80s.

"He was hiding in South America and living off the proceeds of being a cocaine baron. "And I read that in the paper and all the cards fell into place and I saw how my little sniff of cocaine at a party had an absolute direct route to this f****** horrible man in South America.

"And from that day, I never touched cocaine again.