Today is the birthday of the British dancer, director and choreographer MATTHEW BOURNE.  Bourne was born in Walthamstow, London. He studied at the Laban Centre for Movement and Dance in London, where he was awarded a B.A. in Dance Theatre. In addition to founding and choreographing for his own companies he has collaborated in theatre productions, working with actors including Nigel Hawthorne, Dawn French and Jonathan Pryce. Since his final Broadway performance as a dancer in January 1999, he’s dedicated himself to working as a director/ choreographer.

His choreographed works include Overlap Lovers (1987), Town And Country (1991), Deadly Serious (1992), Nutcracker (1992), Highland Fling (1994), the divine, all-male Swan Lake (1995), Cinderella (1997), Oliver! (1997), The Car Man (a version of Carmen with a homoerotic The Postman Always Rings Twice twist) (2000), Play Without Words (2003), Mary Poppins (2004), which won an Olivier Award, Edward Scissorhands (2005), and a dance adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s The Picture Of Dorian Gray (2008)

In 2004 he was made an Order of the British Empire O.B.E.