British producer and entrepreneur Cameron Mackintosh was BOTD in 1946. Born in London, he became a stage hand for West End theatres in his teens, and began producing musicals in the 1970s. He achieved global success producing Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical Cats, improbably based on the children’s poems by T. S. Eliot. In 1985, he originated the English-language stage musical version of Les Miserables, spawning another titanic hit. He went on to dominate 1980s theatre with the mega-hit musicals The Phantom of the Opera and Miss Saigon. His more recent successes have included a stage musical of the film Mary Poppins, London transfers of Broadway hits Avenue Q and Hamilton, and a 2008 revival of Lionel Bart‘s musical Oliver!, partially cast via a reality TV show. (To his credit, Mackintosh ensured that the impoverished Bart received a share of the box office profits from Oliver!, having sold his rights in the show decades before). His production company Delfont Mackintosh now owns eight theatres in London’s West End. Like many youthful liberals, he is now a prominent donor to the British Conservative Party and voted for the United Kingdom to leave the European Union. He has been in a relationship with photographer Michael Le Poer Trench since 1982.