Sir Ian McKellen says actresses in the 1960s pitching for work would write DRR - directors' rights respected - on their headshots as a coded offer of sex for parts.

Speaking to a packed Oxford Union on December 6, the 78-year-old veteran of stage, screen and television responded to a request for his take on the Harvey Weinstein scandal - after refusing to comment in depth on allegations against Kevin Spacey - saying he hoped "we are going through a period which will help to eradicate it [harassment] all together".

He then shared an anecdote from his early days in the theatre that suggested women were as much to blame for the problem as men.

"From my own experience... when I was starting out in the early '60s, the director of the theatre I was working at showed me some photographs he got from women who were wanting jobs, they were actors, some of them had at the bottom of their photograph DRR - directors' rights respected. In other words, if you give me a job, you can have sex with me," McKellen said.