Bill Homewood facts for kids

Bill Homewood is an English actor and singer. He worked on many BBC Children's television shows in the 1970s and 1980s. He is also known for his work with the Royal Shakespeare Company and in West End plays. Bill Homewood has recorded many audiobooks and is also a published poet.

Bill Homewood's Career

Starting Out as an Actor

After his training, Bill Homewood joined the Sadler's Wells New Opera Company in London. He performed in concerts and sang solo with his guitar across Britain. He began his TV career on BBC Children's Television. He became a regular on popular shows like Watch, Multi-Coloured Swap Shop, Saturday Superstore, Rainbow, and So You Want to be Top?.

He was famous as "The Backwards Man." This was because he could speak and sing backwards! He showed this skill as a character named Rongad in The Adventure Game for the BBC. For the BBC, he also played Blondel in The Talisman and Player King in Hamlet.

Voice Work: Radio and Audiobooks

Bill Homewood has lent his voice to many radio dramas. He played Captain Hook in Peter Pan for PBS Radio in the US. He also worked on Saturday Night and Sunday Morning for BBC Radio.

He has recorded many audiobook CDs for companies like Naxos. Some of the famous stories he has narrated include Les Misérables, The Three Musketeers, The Hunchback Of Notre Dame, and The Man In The Iron Mask. His recording of The Count Of Monte Cristo for Naxos is a very popular audiobook.

In 2016, Ukemi Audiobooks released "Great French Poems." This was a solo album where Bill Homewood performed 35 classic poems. He read each poem first in French and then in his own English translation.

Teaching and Academic Roles

In 1979, Bill Homewood was made an Honorary Citizen of Austin, Texas, in the USA. He has held several teaching positions at universities and drama schools. These include being a Visiting Fellow in Theatre at Lancaster University. He was also the Dean of the British American Drama Academy. He was twice an Eminent Chair in Theatre at Florida Atlantic University.

In 1983, he started the Shakespeare text course at RADA, a famous drama school in London.

Bill Homewood's Published Works

Bill Homewood has also published several books. These include "Theatrical Letters – 400 years of English-speaking Theatre History." This book shares the words of actors themselves. He also published "Under The Blue – Selected Poems by Bill Homewood" in 2015. In 2017, he released "Poésies – Poèmes et Chansonnettes" (Poems and Songs) in French.

His translation of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's "Terre Des Hommes" (which means "Land Of Men") was released as an audiobook in 2016. He has also written many screenplays and play scripts. One of his plays was "Kafka's The Trial," which was first performed at the Young Vic Theatre in London in 1993.