In a home filled with bikes, goats & didgeridoos, I somehow found my way to ballet

Craig Revel Horwood on how childhood in humble Aussie home led to world fame

- BY MARC BAKER and FRAN BOWDEN

Strictly judge Craig Revel Horwood has told how his challenging upbringing in Australia somehow led to twinkle-toed stardom.

Craig, 60, says he seemed unsuited for stage acrobatics as a youngster.

He explains: "I was a porky little kid. I was quite voluptuous, darling.

"In fact, I was so much so that my PE teacher said 'Craig, you need to take your top off and run round the oval."

But he went to dance classes on the advice of a pal, Amanda, and says: "I absolutely fell in love with jazz ballet. So much so that I started training in classical ballet, jazz, tap, modern, and all of that stuff."

Of his childhood in Ballarat, Victoria, he muses: "Somehow in a household filled with dirty bikes, goats and didgeridoos, I found my way to a ballet." His first showbiz job, aged 17, in an Australian production of West Side Story, opened up a world of possibilities for the talented young dancer.

The work took him to Paris in the 1980s, only for him to be sacked on his first night at the world-famous Moulin Rouge, over a row about duets.

He blames his sacking on "this woman, a cow, called Debbie". But he bounced back and, in the UK, found himself in Cats and Miss Saigon at the same time.

He says: "I was doing a matinee of Cats and then going over to Saigon, in the evening, or vice versa. I was very confused. I didn't know if I was a GI or a pussy."

Perhaps his biggest career surprise has been the phenomenal success of Strictly, on which he now judges alongside dance luminaries Motsi Mabuse, Shirley Ballas and Anton Du Beke.