Ben Elton
Ben Elton
Benjamin Charles "Ben" Eltonis an English comedian, author, playwright, actor and director. He was a part of London's alternative comedy movement of the 1980s and became a writer on series such as The Young Ones and Blackadder, as well as continuing as a stand-up comedian on stage and television. His style in the 1980s was left-wing political satire. Since then he has published 15 novels and written the musicals We Will Rock Youand Love Never Dies, the sequel to The...
NationalityBritish
ProfessionComedian
Date of Birth3 May 1959
advice looks novel
My advice to anyone adapting a novel is that once they've read it and learnt to understand it, then they must throw it away and never look at it again!
real world earth
The earth only has so much bounty to offer and inventing ever larger and more notional prices for that bounty does not change its real value.
hippie thinking self
The appropriation of radical thinking by lazy, self-obsessed hippies is a public relations disaster that could cost the earth.
heart men blood
Kingsley watched her disappear from the room, wondering if his heart would break. Logic informed him that of course it would not. The heart was no more than a muscle, a pump which distributed blood about the body; it had nothing whatsoever to do with a man's emotions. But if that was the case, why did it ache so?
artist
Artists don't create society, they reflect it
nice thinking people
I don't know what people who I've never met think about me. Some have written horrible things, some have written nice things - but I'm proud of the fact I've remained close to everyone I've ever worked with.
thinking looks
You think I look like a teletubby?
silly wish used
Yes, OK, farty is a silly word. I wish I'd never used it. I'm 34. Perhaps it was a word for my 20s.
century worst over-it
The worst thing about being a great power is when you're not one any more. It takes centuries to get over it.
comedy instinct has-beens
Comedy will always be central to what I do, it's just an instinct for me, but I am a writer and always have been.
love memorable people
If only the strength of the love that people feel when it is reciprocated could be as intense and obsessive as the love we feel when it is not; then marriages would be truly made in heaven.
people littles firsts
People who get through life dependent on other people's possessions are always the first to lecture you on how little possessions count.
believe looks groups
We've all got to look at ourselves, start with yourself, that's all you can do. I believe that we can act responsibly as a group, it's just that there are vested interests telling us not to bother.
race opera lasts
The Germans are a cruel race. Their operas last for six hours and they have no word for fluffy.