Anton du Beke: I Remember…

Anton du Beke is one of the most instantly recognisable dancers in the world, best known for his work on the BBCs StrictlyCome Dancing, in which he has featured since its celebrity revival in 2004

- Caroline Hutton

…MY PARENTS WORKED VERY HARD. My father was Hungarian and my mother is Spanish. They met in the UK in the early 1960s and we lived in Sevenoaks in Kent. My father was a waiter and later worked in a factory and my mother worked in the local bus depot canteen. After school I’d walk there across the fields and wait for her to finish work. Then we’d get the bus home. My parents weren’t academic types but they believed that hard work was the secret to getting on in this world.

…SEEING MY FIRST BALLROOM DANCE CLASS. My younger sister Veronica went to dance classes and one afternoon during the holidays I went to pick her up. I sat on the side and realised the room was full of girls. I thought, this is all right so the following week I went along a bit earlier. The teacher said “don’t just sit there, up you get and join in” and that was it. From that first minute as a 13-year-old I was hooked. I could see how I might progress and improve with practice and that sense of potential achievement was, and always has been, very important to me. Soon after I took my first dance exam and was commended. By the time I took my gold exam, I was highly commended!

…I LEFT SCHOOL AGED 15. I wasn’t naughty and didn’t mix with the wrong crowd but I just slipped through the net. I needed someone to see the potential in me but sadly it didn’t happen at school, although I’d always excelled at sports—as a kid I lived for the weekends when I’d play loads of football and cricket. With only three channels on the TV in those days we spent most of our time outside on the playing fields. But by the time I left school I was already dancing every spare moment.