INVITING US INTO HIS RIVERSIDE HOME WITH HUSBAND JOSE BERGERA WAYNE SLEEP REFLECTS ON HIS INCREDIBLE CAREER AS HE TURNS 75 AND SAYS HE HASN'T STOPPED DANCING YET

The wall of Wayne Sleep’s staircase is covered in images from his extraordinary life and career.

Black-and-white prints show the virtuoso dancer flying through the air in a split leap or grand jeté; taking a curtain call with Rudolf Nureyev; performing with the then Princess of Wales, and larking about backstage with friends Freddie Mercury and Sir Elton John.

As a principal dancer with the Royal Ballet for many years Wayne, who turns 75 this week, was advised not to hang up pictures of himself – it was considered vain.

He was clearly having none of it – just as he is relishing the thought of being the centre of attention at his birthday celebrations. “I don’t think I’ve ever been anything else!” he says. “Tell you what 75 does to you: it gets rid of your modesty.”

He feels “exactly the same as I’ve always felt, but just not with the muscle and the leanness”.

ON THE MOVE 

Diminutive and impish – at 5ft 2in he is the smallest male dancer ever to have joined the Royal Ballet – Wayne is full of energy and fizz. He is quick to laugh and rarely sits still, his feet tip-tapping on the floor to some silent score or his arms waving elegantly.

He often jump sup to demonstrate a dance move while we chat in the living room of his beautiful mews house overlooking the Thames, which once belonged to the writer Nancy Mitford and which he shares with his Spanish husband José Bergera, 54.