Biography

Born in London Richard Ratcliffe went to school just around the corner from the Ealing Studios. That is where he got his first taste for showbizz watching them filming the exterior shots! Ironically a few years later he had his first Television job there in an episode of Z Cars! Later on he worked there again with one of his heroes Spike Milligan in Q10. Other TV includes guest appearances in Eastenders, Doctors, The Bill, Casualty, Bergerac, Keeping up Appearances, Lovejoy and Minder.

Richard was also a regular member of the BBC Radio Rep and he often acted and sang on Children’s Radio. He has also written comedy scripts and short stories for Radio; and composed several jingles for Radio Commercials! He has often performed Soundalikes too and is a well-established Voiceover Artiste for TV and Video documentaries.

His singing career has included all sorts of music from seasons with the Black and White minstrels, International Ice shows, Barber Shop Quartet and right through to supper cabarets. He has appeared in many successful West End musicals including ‘The Sound of Music’ starring Christopher Cazenove and Amanda Holden; ‘Me and My Girl’ with Gary Wilmot; ‘Joseph,’ ‘Some Like It Hot’ with Tommy Steele, ‘Annie’ and many many more!

He has also acted in several prestigious stage productions with Terence Stamp, Jenny Seagrove, Philip Madoc, Frank Finlay, Gerald Harper and many others. On tour he has appeared in several of the famous Ray Cooney farces and has co-written and starred in a revue at the Edinburgh Festival. Of course one of his all-time favourite jobs was working with The Two Ronnies when they performed their live shows, both at the London Palladium and on subsequent tours.

For many years Richard has been combining all his skills as a writer, singer and actor to create his own one-man show ‘Recipe for Love’. With this show he has headlined in some of the most prestigious venues in Europe, including Ireland, East Berlin and Denmark. He has also worked as Master of Ceremonies for larger Corporate events, Dinner Dances and Weddings; a cabaret artiste for smaller, private functions; and a lounge singer.

Richard lives on the Sussex coast and when he is not busy performing he still writes comedy scripts and short stories. Some years ago he was proud to receive the prestigious ‘Centurion’ award from CALIBRE, a British based charity, when he had recorded over 250 books onto cassettes for the blind!

Richard’s life long dream is to sing a duet with Tony Bennett – so far Tony has been a little bit too busy!