AUTHOR PROFILE

Biography

Julian Clary was born on the 25th of May 1959 in Surbiton, Surrey, to parents Brenda and Peter Clary - a younger brother for his two sisters Frances and Beverley.

He was brought up in Teddington, South West London. Julian says: "My family don't live there any more, but every time I go to Teddington Studio's I drive past our old house. I reminisce about riding my bike through Bushey Park and playing with my little guinea pigs."

As a teenager, Julian was influenced by his eldest sister Frances. She was just starting her career as a Tiller Girl and Julian was fascinated with the illusion created by her heavy make-up...

He went on to study drama at Goldsmith's College, leaving in 1983 with a degree in Drama and English. After a brief stint working as a singing telegram - around which time he acquired his beloved Fanny the Wonderdog, he appeared on the cabaret circuit, calling himself 'Gillian Pie-Face'.

The drag act was not an instant success and Julian was heckled relentlessly, but he fought back with such quips as "Who cuts your hair for you? Is it the council?" Julian soon dropped the Gillian Pie-Face alter-ego and re-invented himself as 'The Joan Collins Fan Club' ditching the wig and kaftans in favour of PVC and rubber.

He remembers his day's on the comedy circuit with great nostalgia: "I had my suitcase and my dog and it was all so self-sufficient, I loved it. It was not leading to anything else, it was not like - one day I'll be on television" , but it just so happened that some TV producers were in the audience at one of his shows, and they invited him to perform on their show 'Friday Night Live' and a star was born.

Julian has since gone on to become one of the nation's most popular performers and, in more recent times, an accomplished writer with a number of best sellers to his credit. Clever boy.

Bibliography

1989 My Life with Fanny the Wonderdog Julian Clary & Paul Merton

1992 How to be a Real Man Julian Clary with Mark Leigh & Mike Lepine

2006 A Young Man's Passage

2008 Murder Most Fab

2009 Devil in Disguise (due out May, 2009, Ebury Press)