After Dinner Speakers: Ben Elton, Billy Crystal, Max Hastings

Ben Elton has without doubt established himself as the leading figure in the generation of British comedy stars which emerged in the 1980s. He first achieved prominence when at the age of 23 he co-wrote the ground breaking smash hit BBC sitcom ‘The Young Ones’, which became a worldwide cult. Ben went on to write for all the principal comedians of his generation, including Lenny Henry, Jennifer Saunders, Dawn French, Rik Mayall, Ade Edmondson and Harry Enfield with hit series such as ‘Happy Families’ and ‘Filthy Rich and Catflap’. In 1985 Ben began his hugely successful writing partnership with Richard Curtis. Together they have written hit shows such as ‘Blackadder 2 / The Third / Goes Forth’ and ‘The Thin Blue Line’ (all starring Rowan Atkinson). He published his first novel, ‘Stark’ in 1988 and since then has written 6 further novels with his latest, ‘Dead Famous’ being published in late 2001. Ben’s ambitions were originally theatrical having studied Drama at Manchester University. In 1990 he returned to the theatre with his first stage play, ‘Gasping’ which ran for nine and a half months in the West End. His success as a playwright continued with ‘Silly Cow’, the stage play of his novel ‘Popcorn’ (which won the prestigious Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Comedy) and ‘Blast From the Past’. Not content with his many successes as a writer Ben began his acting career in 1992, starring in his own adaptation of his novel, ‘Stark’ and appearing as Verges in Kenneth Branagh’s acclaimed feature film, ‘Much Ado About Nothing’. In 1999 Ben directed his first feature film, ‘Maybe Baby’, the screenplay being based