Docs said he was minutes away from death

CELEBRITY Traitors star Sir Stephen Fry was minutes from death after a booze and cocaine binge, Ben Elton has revealed.

- BY MARK JEFFERIES

The comedian tells how he rushed his friend to hospital in a cab.

He says doctors told him the genius former QI host had been "minutes away from permanent brain damage - and not many more minutes away from death".

Ben, 66, jokes: "I saved the most celebrated brain in showbiz.

"The throbbing, cerebral epicentre of national treasure-dom has throbbed on these last three decades 'cos of me."

The revelation comes after Sir Stephen, 68, became one of the latest to leave BBC1's Celebrity Traitors.

Ben - co-writer of legendary 1980s sitcom Blackadder in which Stephen played bumptious toff Melchett - tells the story in his new autobiography What Have I Done?

ARREST

They had been out for dinner in London in 1992 before going to an after-party together at the Islington home of late author Douglas Adams.

Stephen, who he affectionately nicknames Bing, was house-sitting for The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy creator at the time.

Ben describes how he and Stephen were smoking and drinking beer late into the night.

Stephen, who didn't normally drink beer, was tucking into "some weird organic Belgian stuff and snorting cocaine too, he claims.

Ben says he was about to call it a night when his pal started to wheeze and then collapse in his chair with his head rolling.

Ben called a taxi which got them to hospital at around 2am, dragged him up the stairs to the main entrance and put him in a wheelchair.