Biography:.
Bob
Kingdom grew up in Cardiff, South Wales.
Like Dylan Thomas he lived in an Anglicised Welsh environment marked by
a tension between two cultures. From here comes a reworking of the English
language under the rhythm of Welsh cadences with which Thomas himself was
able to colonise the words of the English to surprise, startle and hypnotise.
From an early age Bob Kingdom was himself captured by words and language.
As a small boy he won literary competitions and distinguished himself in
amateur dramatics (amazing adult colleagues with mimicry and an ability
to play exceedingly old gentlemen with uncanny conviction.)
In adulthood he quickly established himself in the world of advertising
copywriting (pleading guilty to a number of catchphrases and images of the
seventies!) Confused with a multiplicity of talents he found himself involved
in television voice-overs, poetry readings and as a writer/performer of
radio comedy shows (an early member of the satirical Week Ending team, where
his Neil Kinnock remains unsurpassed!) In addition to all this he found
time to mount his own London art exhibitions.
Few people who saw an early incarnation of Bob Kingdom's Dylan Thomas at
the Chelsea Arts Club would have realised the international critical acclaim
which would follow, to demand that the show should run seemingly for ever
and everywhere. It has been seen in Britain, the United States, Australia
and the Republic of Ireland. Indeed it has gone beyond the English speaking
world to France, Italy, the Netherlands and Turkey.
On Christmas Day 1990 the Sky satellite network brought Kingdom's Dylan into numerous parlours.