After Dinner Speakers: Terry Alderton, Julia Roberts, George Benson

Until now, ex-Southend United goalkeeper Terry Alderton was comedy’s best kept secret. A former holiday camp entertainer, Terry’s act is a riot of exuberant, loose limbed physical comedy, extraordinary caricatures and stunningly acute impressions. Combining a fearless onstage presence, unshakeable confidence with streetwise hyperactive delivery, Alderton leaves his audience exhausted with laughter. Terry’s professional career started with a local talent contest and was quickly followed by his television debut on Sky TV at the age of just 18. Bookings to appear at many mainstream venues followed and he became a resident comedian for two seasons at a holiday camp on the East Coast. Following in the footsteps of another son of Southend Lee Evans, Terry hung up his red coat and headed for the London comedy circuit which he has been continually working on for the last 11 years. He now regularly tops the bill and comperes The Comedy Store. At the 1999 Edinburgh Festival Terry took the city by storm. It wasn’t too long before his show became the one to see, he went on to be nominated for the prestigious Perrier Award. Terry certainly captured people’s imagination during the festival and was immediately offered the job of fronting the new lottery show for BBC1’s Red Alert alongside Lulu. In December 1999, Terry performed at the Royal variety Performance (BBC1) and Stonewall’s Equity Show at The Royal Albert Hall for the BBC’s Children in Need. As his alter ego ‘MC Rubberlegs’ Terry was a regular on Neil Fox’s Capital Radio show ‘Dr. Fox’s Surgery’ and his versatile voice has made him a leading voiceover artist for radio commercials and jingles; credits include British Telecom, Fantasy Football League for the BBC and Mentorn Radio. Terry includes in his wide repertoire of voices Harry Hill, Julian Clary, Lee Evans, Prince Naseem and Chris Eubank. Terry’s TV credits include Ian Wright’s Friday Nights All Wright (LWT), Edinburgh or Bust (Ch 4), and two series of The Comedy Store (Ch 5). Terry has also filmed a documentary called MyFC (Ch5) about Southend Football Club.