by declaring that the solution to the divide was to send a pox or a plague upon the North so that the people there could all just die quietly. Brian Badonde, one of the characters from the comedy show Facejacker, played by Kayvan Novak, was said by journalist Jimi Famurewa to be a parody of Sewell. His distinctive voice, described by one journalist as "posher than the queen", was popular with impersonators and added to his public image. Television credits Other activities Sewell was a museum adviser in South Africa, Germany and the United States. He provided voice-overs for a variety of television commercials including for the Victoria and Albert Museum and feta cheese. Sewell was also an aficionado of classic cars, a fan of stock car racing and over several decades wrote extensively about cars, classic and contemporary, in the Evening Standard and elsewhere. In both his TV series, on the pilgrimage to Santiago and the Grand Tour (see above), he drove his Mercedes-Benz 560 SEC coupé. Sewell expressed a preference for driving his Mercedes barefoot. Personal life In a television programme broadcast on Channel 4 on 24 July 2007, marking the 40th anniversary of the passing of the Sexual Offences Act 1967 which partially decriminalised homosexuality in England and Wales, Sewell said, "I never came out... but I have slowly emerged". Sewell was described as bisexual but also described himself as gay, saying he knew he probably was homosexual at the age of six. Later, Sewell would state that he was more comfortable with the term queer than gay to describe himself, and expressed opposition to same-sex marriage. He had chastised himself for his attraction to men, describing it as an "affliction" and a "disability" and told readers, "no homosexual has ever chosen this sexual compulsion". In the first episode of The Naked Pilgrim Sewell alluded to the loss of his virginity at the hands of a 60-year-old French woman "who knew what she was doing and was determined"; Sewell was 20 at the time. In his autobiography, Sewell indicates that he lost his virginity at the age of 15 to a fellow pupil at Haberdashers' Aske's School. He claimed to have slept with over 1,000 men. In 2011 Sewell exposed the identity of his father, as revealed by his mother on her deathbed. He also revealed that his stepfather Robert Sewell and his mother, Mary Jessica (née