Actor Michael Ball: ‘The National Theatre is hideous! It should be levelled!’

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Michael Ball was born in 1962 to in Gloucestershire to a Welsh mother and an English father. At school he was a teenage drop-out, but when a teacher encouraged him to go to drama school he suddenly realised what he wanted to do. In 1985 he made his first West End appearance in the original production of Les Miserables - other notable roles came later in Aspects of Love, and Hairspray. For more than 40 years he's been the West End's leading man - winning stacks of awards, building a hugely successful recording career and attracting a large and loyal army of fans. Robert Elms found out about Michael Ball’s favourite haunts, memories and pet hates in 2009.