<b>Exclusive
By Arthur Pint, Entertainment Editor</b>

Television star Stephen Fry has sensationally joined the Ipswich Town Football Club board after admitting his much-publicised "love" for East Anglian rivals Norwich City was a sham.

Fry has long been associated with the Carrow Road club, but now says he has secretly supported Ipswich since he was a boy.

Now Fry has accepted Tractor Boys owner Marcus Evans' offer to join the board as Director of Crowd Entertainment.

<center><div class="getty embed image" style="background-color:#fff;display:inline-block;font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#a7a7a7;font-size:11px;width:100%;max-width:300px;"><div style="overflow:hidden;position:relative;height:0;padding:148.129676% 0 0 0;width:100%;"><iframe src="//embed.gettyimages.com/embed/455261291?et=7eXuDsAHTjx-bluYMas5Rw&sig=xl-1-7jVXEDc6eCrEghtjsB09MKEmrGuYgBlDsXxMck=" width="300" height="445" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" style="display:inline-block;position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></div><p style="margin:0;"></p><div style="padding:0;margin:0 0 0 10px;text-align:left;"><a href="http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/455261291" target="_blank" style="color:#a7a7a7;text-decoration:none;font-weight:normal !important;border:none;display:inline-block;">View image</a> | <a href="http://www.gettyimages.com" target="_blank" style="color:#a7a7a7;text-decoration:none;font-weight:normal !important;border:none;display:inline-block;">gettyimages.com</a></div></div></center><center><i>Stephen Fry with his hated Norwich scarf</center></i><br><br>


The move comes as Fry has taken a self-imposed break from his Twitter account, where he has 9.3 million followers, and has also stopped using the photo sharing site Instagram.

A friend said: "After getting married Stephen wanted to change a few things. He's off social media for a few months, and he decided to use the opportunity of this break to admit he actually hates Norwich and is a secret regular at Portman Road.

"Even though he is always busy with TV and stage work, he considered it a great honour to be offered a role on the Ipswich Town board. It's a dream come true for him."



The club refused to comment, but an insider said: "We always knew he was a fan because there was a season ticket in his name since 1980, the period when Ipswich were the best team in Europe.

"We respected his privacy, but when we found out he was ready to admit he detested Norwich, yellow and green and Delia Smith, then we seized on the chance.

"It's the sort of good business that has made Marcus Evans a multi-million pound fortune."

<b>Portman Road</b>

It is not yet clear exactly what duties the host of popular television show QI will perform, but it is understood he will be doing much of the on-pitch micropohone work entertaining the huge Portman Road crowds before matches and at half-time.

Mr Ken Airy, a spokesman for Norwich City said: "We are urgently trying to contact Mr Fry to see if this is true. But we admit he would not be the first to realise supporting Ipswich is by far a more pleasurable experience."

There is form at the top level for this - with Delia Smith famously being photographed wearing an Ipswich rosette on the day of the 1978 FA Cup final, when Ipswich won one of its three major trophies.

Facebook it: <iframe src="//www.facebook.com/plugins/like.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fsuffolkgazette&amp;width&amp;layout=button_count&amp;action=like&amp;show_faces=false&amp;share=true&amp;height=21" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" style="border:none; overflow:hidden; height:21px;" allowTransparency="true"></iframe>