Wayne Sleep

He was awarded the OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) in the 1998 Queen's Honours List for his services to ballet and dance.

He went into the Guinness Book of Records in 1973 when he achieved an unprecedented entrechat douze - crossing his feet 12 times in one leap. The only dancer to have come near this was Nijinsky with 10.

Wayne was born in Plymouth but when he was about 7 his family moved to Hartlepool where he went to the Muriel Carr School of Dancing which was situated above a cycle shop. As a boy he wanted to be a song and dance man like Gene Kelly and entered the children's section of a song and dance competition at the Middlesborough Tournament singing '5' 2" Eyes of Blue' winning the cup for the highest marks in the children's section. However on the dance side the adjudicator told him he must learn ballet as he tapped with his feet turned out like a ballet dancer which is why he learned ballet. He won a scholarship which gave him two free lessons a week at the Royal Academy of Dance in Newcastle Upon Tyne but by the time his train fares were paid they weren't exactly free. Coming from a working class family - his father was a process worker at the Steetley Magnesite Company - and had to be careful with their money. When he was 12 and a pupil at West Hartlepool Tech out of 500 entrants he won a scholarship to the Royal Ballet School by default as he missed the height test which wasn't discovered until after he was granted the scholarship. He graduated in 1966 on performing 'Blue Boy' on 'Les Patineurs' and became a principal dancer with the Royal Ballet in 1973 performing in over 50 roles including some created for him by Frederick Ashton and Rudolph Nureyev. He began diversifying acting on stage, television and in films, choreographing ballets and appearing in pantomime with Danny La Rue at the London Palladium. He won rave reviews in the stage musicals of 'Cats' and 'Song and Dance', played the Emcee in Gillian Lynne's production of 'Cabaret' in the West End and won a Golden Rose Award for his 'Dizzy Feet' television show and with his own company of dancers and musicians did a 3 month ten city tour with 'Dash'. He's topped the bill in over 16 pantomimes and devised and directed many productions and charity galas including Carnival of the Birds, Design for Dance, 90 years of. . . , Stars of the Night, 50 Wonks at Wayne Sleep, Birthday Offering (for Princess Margaret), D. B. E. (for Dame Beryl Grey). His own choreographic works include 'David and Goliath','Savoy Suite','A Soldiers Tale', The Hot Shoe Show', 'Wonderland'. 'Cinderella and Toad' (Wind in the Willows), 'Wizard of Oz', 'Salad Days' 'Roll Over' , 'Carousel','World of Classical Ballet','History of Dance' and Hollywood and Broadway'. He arranged the dance sequence for the film 'Death on the Nile' and formed his own dance company DASH which did many seasons in London's West End then after a world tour returned to London. As an actor he's appeared in 'The Tempest', 'The Servant of Two Masters' 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' as Puck, 'The Soldier's Tale'and the films 'The First Great Train Robbery' and 'The Tales of Beatrix Potter'.