Stephen Fry has taken to his beloved medium of communication, Twitter, to announce that he is to marry his partner Elliot Spencer. The pair reportedly made a formal application to marry at a register office in Norfolk and now have a year in which to make things official.

Stephen FryStephen Fry is to marry his partner Elliot Spencer within the next year

"Oh. It looks as though a certain cat is out of a certain bag," the 57-year-old tweeted Tuesday to his 8.35 million followers. "I'm very very happy of course but had hoped for a private wedding. Fat chance!"

He later added: "Thank you all SO much for your kind congratulations. Deeply touched xxx."

Speaking to the Guardian, Fry's personal assistant said the planned marriage was a private matter, adding: "Stephen Fry is very happy and proud to say that he has set the wheels in motion for a wedding sometime in the future, but no date has been set due to a busy work schedule."

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Fry separated from his long-term partner Daniel Cohen in 2010, crediting him for "saving" him during his periods of severe depression. He then began a relationship with Steven Webb but was apparently single again by the summer of 2013.

In a blogpost at the time, he wrote: "Loneliness is the most terrible and contradictory of my problems. I hate having only myself to come home to.

"It's not that I want a sexual partner, a long-term partner, someone to share a bed and a snuggle on the sofa with - although perhaps I do and in the past I have had and it has been joyful. But the fact is I value my privacy too. It's a lose-lose matter."

Spencer is a stand-up comedian and writer originally from Southampton. 

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