AUSTRALIAN actress Cate Blanchett has given US television host David Letterman an education in Australian history during a recording of the late night show.
Blanchett teased the veteran television host for his lack of Australian knowledge, winning over the audience with her light hearted humour.
‘‘Are you, as an Australian, a subject of the Queen?’’ Letterman asked.
‘‘Officially, yes,’’ Blanchett replied.
‘‘How do you take to that in Australia?’’
‘‘Some people, not so well. But I have played a lot of queens and I live in Sydney where there are a lot of queens, so you know.’’
Blanchett is in the US promoting her new film Blue Jasmine, directed by Woody Allen.
Letterman joked that the director spends most of his time on a film set asleep.
The film has an all-star cast including Alec Baldwin, Sally Hawkins and Peter Sarsgaard but Letterman described Blanchett as “head and shoulders above the rest”.
Blue Jasmine will hit UK cinemas in September 2013.