English comedian Julian Clary was BOTD in 1959. Born in Surbiton in Surrey to police officers, he was brought up in Teddington in South-West London. He studied English and drama at Goldsmiths, University of London, and pursued a career in London’s alternative comedy scene. He came to public attention in late night TV comedy show Saturday Live as “The Joan Collins Fan Club”, wearing glam rock makeup and dressed in bondage attire and accompanied by his whippet Fanny the WonderDog. In 1989, he co-hosted the short-lived game show Trick or Treat, achieving greater success as the host of Sticky Moments, an innuendo-laden TV quiz show in which he humiliated his overjoyed contestants. Unlike his comedy predecessors, Clary was open about his homosexuality, and took regular swipes at popular prejudices about the gay scene. Beloved by straight audiences, he was frequently criticised by gay rights organisations for peddling stereotypes about gay men as effeminate and sex-obsessed. In 1993, he made an off-colour joke during a televised awards show about fisting Conservative politician Norman Lamont. Lambasted by the right-wing tabloid press, who led an unsuccessful campaign to have him banned from television, Clary left England for a year-long tour of Australasia. His star faded in the 1990s, and he returned to the live comedy circuit with occasional appearances in Christmas pantomimes. He has published comic novels, children’s books and two volumes of autobiography. He lives in Aldington in Kent with his husband Ian Mackley.