"Not that I’m a massive expert, but when I heard that they wanted to dig up the Arctic, I thought: hold on a minute – that’s not good": Jarvis Cocker, softly spoken ambassador for the environment. Photograph: Gary Salter for the Observer.
Jarvis Cocker sits with unblinking patience as syringes of salt and sugar are applied to his beard and hair and he is transformed into a frosted Arctic explorer. He blinks through his famous glasses and feigns shivering for the photographer. It's the kind of good nature that we've all come to expect of Jarvis, and that's made him a "national treasure". "It's good that I managed to hoodwink so many people," he says. "I am actually not that nice a person."
