Ben Elton is an atheist. Elton studied at Stillness Junior School and Godalming Grammar School in Surrey, South Warwickshire College in Stratford-upon-Avon and the University of Manchester. His first television appearance was a stand-up performance on the BBC1 youth and music programme, The "Oxford Road Show". His first TV success, at 23, came as co-writer of the television sitcom, "The Young Ones", in which he occasionally appeared. In 1983/84 he wrote and appeared in Granada Television's sketch show "Alfresco", which was also notable for early appearances by Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie, Emma Thompson and Robbie Coltrane. In 1985, Elton produced his first
Ben Downing (writer) Ben Downing (writer) Ben Downing (born April 17, 1967) is an American writer, editor, and teacher. Specializing in nineteenth- and twentieth-century British social life and literature (with a particular emphasis on travel writing), he has written essays, articles, and reviews on figures such as Robert Louis Stevenson, Duff Cooper, Robert Byron, Anthony Powell, Peter Fleming, Wilfred Thesiger, and Patrick Leigh Fermor. His biography of Janet Ross, who for many years was the doyenne of Florence’s Anglo-American colony, was published in 2013 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Downing also writes poetry. His collection "The Calligraphy Shop" appeared in 2003, and he