By Simon O’Hagan

Published: Friday, 09 December 2022 at 12:00 am


This feature originally appeared in Radio Times magazine.

There probably aren’t too many people who are sorry that Liz Truss’s prime ministership lasted only 50 days, but one person who can be included among that number – at least up to a point – is Jan Ravens.

For more than 20 years, Ravens has been the genius voice of countless high-profile women on the Radio 4 impressions show Dead Ringers, a new series of which starts on Friday 9th December. Truss was shaping up to be a Ravens classic, but her time in office was so short that she came and went after one run of Dead Ringers had finished and before the next one began.

“She was a golden opportunity,” Ravens says. “If only she’d held back a bit! It was a shame.” Fans of Ravens weren’t entirely deprived, however. The skits on Truss that Ravens posted on Twitter last summer – “Hi everyone! It’s the Trusster here!” – were pure joy.

“I was glad I made the most of it when I could,” Ravens says. “It started when she was made Foreign Secretary. I thought, how is this possible? It was like she was this little girl whose daddy had always told her she was funny. She had this untrammelled sense of self-belief.”

It was Ravens who came up with the “I know!” catchphrase for Truss – two words that somehow encapsulated all the soon-to-be-PM’s mix of incredulity and smugness, along with a wildly misplaced estimation of her own abilities. “I’m Foreign Secretary! I KNOW!”

Lizzo Truss makes with the positive waves #GoodasHell pic.twitter.com/qHmVWSbt9C

— Jan Ravens (@thatjanravens) August 28, 2022