Born in 1962 at the same hospital as Quentin Crisp, Ian Elmslie decided to set his life to music from the earliest age.
A public school survivor, secretary, lead singer and old folks care assistant, he finally found a pathway to the spotlight at the Rose Bruford College of Speech and Drama. After three years of anarchic community theatre, a chance phone call opened up the velveteen curtains to the twilight world of the gay cabaret circuit, where he found infamy as one half of the award-winning musical comedy duo, Katrina and The Boy.
After an exhilarating and exhausting decade spent entertaining the nationwide community, he found unexpected rewards as a drama teacher in a rough tough secondary school.
A Marvellous Party, a ticklish memoir of brief but close encounters with legends from the world of entertainment, is his first and maybe his only book. It is an open love letter to the gay community, a tribute to personal heroes and heroines, and a tip of the gratitude hat to the queer icons who led him from where he was to who he is…
Out, proud and usually tucked up in bed by 10.