Julian Clary

Julian Peter McDonald Clary (born 25 May 1959) is an English actor, comedian, novelist and presenter. He began appearing on television in the mid-1980s. Since then he has also acted in films, television and stage productions, numerous pantomimes and was the winner of ''Celebrity Big Brother 10'' in 2012.

Early life and education

Clary was born on 25 May 1959 in Surbiton, Surrey, to Brenda ( McDonald) Clary, a probation officer, and Peter J. Clary, a police officer. He was brought up in Teddington, Middlesex, with two older sisters. By his own account, he was conceived "in broad daylight" in Clacton-on-Sea in 1958. Two of his great-grandparents were Germans who emigrated to Britain at the end of the nineteenth century. He and his siblings were raised as Roman Catholics. He attended St Benedict's School, Ealing and, later, he studied English and Drama at Goldsmiths' College, University of London.

Stand-up comedy

Clary is an openly gay comedian who refers to himself as a "renowned homosexual" and is known for his outrageous and flamboyant costumes and make-up, and interactions with his audience such as looking in their bags, comments on their attire and flirting with straight men in the audience. For those who get too close he is quick to respond "Don't touch me". He has been assisted by Hugh Jelly and others in audience participation segments.

Clary began his career under the name Leo Hurll, a fake keyboardist for pop band Thinkman (a recording project conceived by Rupert Hine). He entered the alternative comedy scene in the early 1980s, first under the alias Gillian Pieface and later as The Joan Collins Fan Club. He wore heavy glam make-up and dressed in outrageous clothes, often involving leather/PVC and hinting at bondage. His pet dog Fanny the Wonderdog, a whippet mongrel, also featured in performances.

Since then, Clary has undertaken several successful tours of his stage act, some of which have been released on home video, including:
* ''The Mincing Machine Tour'' (1989)
* ''My Glittering Passage'' (1993)
* ''Natural Born Mincer'' (2003)
* ''Lord of the Mince'' (2009-10)
* ''Position Vacant: Apply Within'' (2012-13) In April 2014 he took the show to Australia and New Zealand.
* ''The Joy of Mincing'' (2016)
* ''Born To Mince'' (2019)

He was named Ambassador for the 2016 Adelaide Fringe, responsible for promoting the festival internationally.

Television

After a number of appearances on ''Friday Night Live'' in the mid- to late 1980s, Clary co-hosted the short-lived ITV game show ''Trick or Treat'' in 1989 with Mike Smith, before achieving greater success later that year with his own high-camp Channel 4 game show, '' Sticky Moments with Julian Clary''. More a vehicle for his brand of humour than a genuine gameshow, ''Sticky Moments'' was a light-hearted "non-quiz" satire, with him often awarding points because he liked the contestants, rather than because they possessed a particular skill or aptitude. He later starred in the 1992 audience participation sitcom '' Terry and Julian'' with Lee Simpson, again for Channel 4.

Also in 1992, he played a cameo guest star part in the BBC drama '' Virtual Murder''. In the episode "A Dream of Dracula", he played an undertaker, alongside other guest stars including Alfred Marks, Jill Gascoine, Ronald Fraser and Peggy Mount. In the same year, while visiting Australia, he made a controversial appearance alongside Rex Mossop on ''Tonight Live with Steve Vizard'', during which Mossop espoused homophobic opinions. He also appeared in an episode of the improvisational comedy show ''Whose Line Is It Anyway?'' in 1991.

On 12 December 1993, he made an infamous appearance at the British Comedy Awards, where he made a joke comparing the set to Hampstead Heath (some of which is known as a cruising area for gay men) and stated he had just been fisting the former Chancellor of the Exchequer Norman Lamont, who had presented an award earlier in the ceremony. Due to the instant audience reaction, the punchline ("Talk about a red box!") was widely overlooked. Although the joke was met with uproarious laughter from the audience and Lamont himself did not complain over it, he was criticised in some newspapers, particularly by the ''Daily Mail'' and '' The Sun'', who both launched a campaign to have him banned from television. Despite these attempts, Clary's next series was the BBC's studio-based ''All Rise for Julian Clary'' in 1996, in which he played a judge in a mock courtroom setting.

From 1998 to 2001, he hosted three series of the Sky TV show '' Prickly Heat'', the first two series with Davina McCall, the last one with Denise van Outen. Additionally, from 1999 to 2002 he was the face of Daz laundry detergent, taking over from Shane Richie, Michael Barrymore and Danny Baker. He is a recurring performer and one of the most popular performers in the ITV Pantos. He played "First Henchman" and "Tim" in 1998's ''Jack and The Beanstalk''; "The Good Fairy" in 2000's ''Cinderella''; "The Genie of the Lamp" in 2000's ''Aladdin''; and, possibly his favourite character, "Chris the Cat" in 2002's ''Dick Whittington''. In 1999, he became a team captain on the quiz show '' It's Only TV...but I Like It'', alongside Phill Jupitus and Jonathan Ross. In 2003, he presented the first series of the Japanese TV clip show, '' Sushi TV'' for Challenge. In 2004, he took part in the BBC
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