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

He 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, he started in 1962 as a cabaret artist in London.  Brief stints as a pub pianist and an advertising copywriter followed.

He has been married twice – first in 1964 to Lizzie; they had 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 he 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. 

They have three children – Holly, a lawyer married to Nick, a management consultant; they have Bertie, Mabel and Reggie.   Jack, who is a science policy researcher (jackstilgoe@wordpress.com), is married to a social worker named Faith; they have Zachary and Leo and Hope.  And Joe, who is married to Katie.  You can find out all about him and his excellent music on www.joestilgoe.com.

Professionally, He has 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.  His hobbies are music and theatre (which have happily also been his living), cricket, sailing, demolition building and architecture.