Sir Stirling was recently told Chris Hemsworth was playing James Hunt in the forthcoming film Rush and asked who he would like to play him in film. His answer: "I hope the actor would be masculine – not a poofter or anything like that. Perhaps the guy from Skyfall."
When gay rights campaigners went nuts, Sir Stirling said: "I think it would be difficult for someone of the other persuasion, who is homosexual, to take on the part, as I have spent my life driving cars and chasing girls. I’m sorry I’ve caused offence, but I’m disappointed anyone could be so narrow-minded as to take offence. It was not meant to cause any. I have homosexual friends. There’s nothing wrong with it. It’s the way things are nowadays."
It's not for us to judge whether Sir Stirling was right or wrong other than to say he's 83 and raised in a different era so surely should be cut some slack.
Which leaves the question, who do you think should play Sir Stirling Moss if a movie was made of his life? Daniel Craig seems as good a choice as any to us.
Incidentally, we had serious reservations about musclebound Australian Chris Hemsworth playing James Hunt. The similarities didn't seem apparent, what with Hunt being something of a true Englishman of a much slighter build.
We asked Alistair Caldwell, McLaren team manager during Hunt's tenure in the 70s and on-set advisor to Ron Howard during the filming of Rush, what he thought. Alastair said Hemsworth was uncannily similar to Hunt and that his portrayal was accurate. So now you know.
