Ben Elton

Benjamin Charles 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 series such as The Young Ones and Blackadder, as well as continuing as a stand-up comedian on stage and television. His style in the 1980s was left-wing political satire. Since then he has published 15 novels and written the musicals We Will Rock You (2002) and Love Never Dies (2010), the sequel to The Phantom of the Opera. His novels cover the Dystopian, Satire, and Crime genres. 2Early life and education Elton was born at University College Hospital in Fitzrovia, London, the son of Mary (née Foster), an English teacher from Cheshire, and physicist and educational researcher Professor Lewis Elton. He is descended from Martin Luther, is a nephew of the historian G. R. Elton (Sir Geoffrey Elton) and a third cousin of singer Olivia Newton-John. Elton's father is from a German Jewish family and Elton's mother, who was raised in the Church of England, is of English background. Elton grew up in Catford, south London, before moving with his family to Guildford, Surrey in 1968. Raised in a non-religious home he is an atheis