Benjamin Charles "Ben" Elton (born 3 May 1959) is an English comedian, author, playwright, actor and director. He was a part of London's alternative comedy movement of the 1980s and became a writer on such cult series as The Young Ones and Blackadder, as well as continuing as a stand-up comedian on stage and TV. His performing style in the 1980s was left-wing political satire. Since then he has published thirteen novels and more lately become known for writing the musical We Will Rock You (2002) and Love Never Dies (2010), the sequel to The Phantom of the Opera.
Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Comedy, Martin Beck Award, British Academy Television Award for Comedy and Comedy Entertainment Programme
Nominations
Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Musical
Movies
Love Never Dies, Maybe Baby, Blackadder: Back & Forth, Much Ado About Nothing, Rowan Atkinson Live!
TV Shows
Ben Elton Live from Planet Earth, The Thin Blue Line, Blackadder, Filthy Rich & Catflap, Blackadder II, The Young Ones, Alfresco, Stark, Comic Relief, Get a Grip, The Ben Elton Show, Ben Elton: The Man from Auntie
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Quote
1
[on Cliff Richard] What an extraordinary performer, one of those few people who can make you feel old and young at the same time. He had his first number one hit before I was born. When I meet him I feel like I'm twice his age. The guy is magical. I first had the privilege of working with him in '86 when he teamed up with the Young Ones to do the first Comic Relief single and sold a million records for Comic Relief. The guy is extraordinary. Age has not withered five decades of pop power, the tomatoes may be wrinkled but this man is not. He's the best, he's the king.
2
[on the death of his old friend Rik Mayall] I owe him so much. He changed my life utterly when he asked me to co-write The Young Ones (1982) with him and he was with me on the day I met my wife. He always made me cry with laughter, now he's just made me cry.
3
[on The Wright Way (2013)] I chose this situation because it offers endless opportunity for logical absurdity and big physical comedy while also allowing for a bit of social satire on a subject which looms large in everyone's lives.
4
I once was lucky enough to meet a young lady by the name of Helen Stone who said to me "you are a bloke who don't look like a bloke. saying words which don't sound like they're funny..." that made me laugh a lot.
5
"The problem really with politics is apathy I think, particularly the Labour Party. I mean I'm a member and I can't even be arsed to leave!" (Speaking in 2005)
6
(On the fashion industry) "Women who don't look like women modelling clothes that don't look like clothes."
7
I can do without the Labour Party trying to strut its funky stuff. I didn't vote Labour because they've heard of Oasis.
8
I found a fan's internet site on me in which he got almost everything wrong, including I'd changed my name. I was born Benjamin Elton. My father's family were German Jews who adopted British nationality after the War and my uncle, who served in the British Army, changed his name, under Army instructions, from the Jewish Eronberg to Elton because he wanted the same initials. My father said, "Bugger it, I want to be an Elton too", and changed from Ludwig Eronberg to Lewis Elton. That's the story, not something you pick up on a fan site that comes with so-called "fame".
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Fact
1
His father was of German Jewish descent. His mother was of English background. Through his father, he is a grandson of scholar Victor Ehrenberg, and a third cousin of singer Olivia Newton-John.
2
His musical, "We Will Rock You", based on the music of the rock group Queen, is performed nightly at the Paris Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. [2004]
He and Richard Curtis were offered the chance to write "Police Academy 6: The London Beat", but turned it down.
5
Is co-writer of the Queen Musical 'We Will Rock You' with the band itself.
6
Has three children : Bert, Lottie and Fred.
7
He and Andrew Lloyd Webber were awarded the 2000 London Critics Circle Theatre Award (Drama) for Best New Musical for "The Beautiful Game", performed at the Cambridge Theatre.
8
His comedy, "Popcorn", performed at the Apollo Theatre, was awarded the 1998 Laurence Olivier Theatre Award for Best New Comedy of the 1997 season.
9
He provided lyrics for Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical, "The Beautiful Game", which was nominated for Best Musical at the Laurence Olivier Theatre Awards in 2001 (2000 season).
$3 Million
