After Dinner Speakers: Richard Stilgoe, Hootie & The Blowfish, Raymond Gubbay

Richard Stilgoe lives in Surrey (where he was born) and has five children and two grandchildren. He writes songs, runs the Orpheus Trust and is involved in many music education projects, most recently the Stilgoe Saturday Concerts at the Royal Festival Hall and the National Foundation for Youth Music. He was brought up in Liverpool, and progressed through St. Agnes Church Choir and the Cavern Club to the Cambridge Footlights. Several spells singing his songs in pubs and clubs led to appearances on the Today programme in the 1960's and thence to Nationwide and That's Life, as well as several series of his own. In the 1980's he was involved in the writing of Cats, Starlight Express and Phantom of the Opera, all of which continue to play all over the world. Cats and Starlight Express are now the longest and second-longest running shows in British theatre history. Schools continue to perform his musicals Bodywork and Brilliant the Dinosaur. His double act with Peter Skellern has toured for fifteen years, including visits to Australia and Hong Kong. He has presented the Schools Proms since 1988, and passed his 120th appearance in Countdown. In 1998, he founded the Orpheus Centre, which provides opportunities for disabled people to take part in the performing arts. Its students now appear all over the country at events including the Notting Hill Carnival and Glastonbury Festival. He has three Tony nominations, three Monte Carlo Prizes, a Prix Italia, an Honorary Doctorate and an O.B.E. His hobbies are architecture, demolition (he owns and drives a Komatsu P.C. 120 digger), cricket, sailing and his family.