Daddy died in 1996. His final 10 years were spent with me in my house in Clapham, in south-west London, being looked after by nurses who I paid for, and who loved him and treated him beautifully. He had Alzheimer's for the last four years, and that was painful. But I took care of my father, and I'm quite proud of that.

I never wanted children and never liked them. But it was my mother's profound wish that I get married. After a stroke paralysed her down one side and she was unable to speak, she would sometimes suddenly just say, "Get married. Get married!" That was a little unnerving, to say the least.

I was 11 when I read Oliver Twist. That was the beginning of a love affair with Charles Dickens that continues. He was a very human, flawed, passionate creature who made a lot of things happen. He changed the political and creative landscape in England. He is endlessly fascinating and seductive to me.

I studied English Literature at Cambridge University from 1960 to '63. It was incredibly sexist when I was there. For example, I was not allowed to become a member of the Footlights comedy society – certain clubs were not available to women. At Cambridge there were many, many more men than women, so females were a rather prized commodity, which meant that one had access to lots and lots of men.

I enjoyed it, and I had boyfriends and I had dates and so on, but because I was a lesbian – although I didn't know that at the time, as it hadn't been established, so to speak – I just did what everyone else did and sort of necked around and heavy-petted.

I had sexual experiences with my boyfriend, who was an undergraduate and remains a close friend, but I was never deflowered at Cambridge. I have never been properly f…ed by a man.

Kenneth Williams and I did a BBC radio series together in the 1970s. He was immensely serious, but nobody took him seriously and I think that was painful. And because of his sexuality – he wasn't sexually attractive, he was attractive spiritually – he didn't have the vivid sex life that we all hope we'll have. On account of other things, too, he was fundamentally sad.

I met Clive James when I was at Cambridge. He and Germaine Greer were ravishing personalities. When I did my 2015 show The Importance of Being Miriam, I asked if I might use a poem of his, and he allowed me to. I've always thought him a wonderful person, and he is writing as well now as he's ever written.

Prince Charles presented my OBE in 2002. I don't think it's a proper thing to say he is a friend, but I know him, and he makes me feel like I am. I think he's a very decent man and unfailingly courteous.

I saw him recently because he invited me to his house in London. Of course I am star-struck in his presence, but not because of anything he does, but because he is the Prince of Wales and who the f… am I? What am I doing there?

Our upbringing teaches us that it's not what's on the outside but what on the inside that counts, but I think men are easily seduced by a woman's appearance. It's a bit sad, as they miss out a bit, but it's getting better.

I did see sexual harassment when I worked on American film sets in the late 1990s, but I didn't experience it personally. It's taken this long for [abusive] men to be held to account because it concerns power, and people don't want to cross power.

Men still hold the balance, but it's getting better. When I read that Jeremy Clarkson is anxious about the position of men today I think, "Well, we are getting somewhere."

Miriam Margolyes stars in The Lady in the Van at the Arts Centre Melbourne until March 6; mtc.com.au.

This article appears in Sunday Life magazine within the Sun-Herald and the Sunday Age on sale February 3.