biography

I was born in Camberley, Surrey, on March 28th 1943, the third child of John and Joan Stilgoe. I had a big sister, Dawn, who died in 1996, and a big brother Robin. When I was three we moved to Liverpool, where my little brother George was born in 1948.

I went to school at Liverpool College from 1949 – 1959, then to Monkton Combe School near Bath. After a year at Clare College Cambridge reading first engineering and then music, I started in 1962 as a cabaret artist in London. Brief stints as a pub pianist and an advertising copywriter followed.

I have been married twice – first in 1964 to Lizzie; we have two children, Rufus and Jemima. Rufus is a barrister, and is married to another barrister called Clare. They have two children, Alex and Bobbie. Jemima is a doctor, married to a paediatrician called Jim. They have twins called Tom and Harry and a son called Stanley.

The second marriage happened in 1975, when I married opera singer Annabel Hunt, who is famous for singing L’Umana Fragilta in Peter Hall’s memorable production of Ulisse by Monteverdi at Glyndebourne in 1972. We have three children – Holly, a lawyer married to Nick, a management consultant; they have Bertie, Mabel and Reggie. Jack,who is a lecturer at UCL, is married to a social worker named Faith; they have Zachary and Leo and Hope And Joe, who is married to Katie, and they have Sylvie and Clementine.You can find out all about him and his excellent music on www.joestilgoe.com.

Professionally, I have done a lot of radio and television, many concerts and cabarets (either alone or as part of a double act with Peter Skellern), and helped Andrew Lloyd Webber write three musicals. All this is described in more detail in the pages that follow.

My hobbies are music and theatre (which have also been my living, happily), cricket(I was president of Surrey in 2005 when they got relegated for the first time in their history), sailing, demolition (I have a JCB digger) building and architecture.

But my greatest delight is my five children and my thirteen grandchildren. Watching the first lot bring up the second lot is the light of my life. That and Annabel.

I have a JCB digger.

• Family History

  Stilgoe is an odd name, and nobody seems to know where it comes from. My Dad and my grandfather were both very keen on family history, and traced the family ...
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• Programme Notes

  Official words for use if I'm appearing at your event.
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• Helpers

  I am hugely grateful to this list of people who encouraged me and aren’t still around to decide whether it was worth it.
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