Trivia

Is co-writer of the Queen Musical 'We Will Rock You' with the band itself.

His comedy, "Popcorn", performed at the Apollo Theatre, was awarded the 1998 Laurence Olivier Theatre Award for Best New Comedy of the 1997 season.

His musical, "We Will Rock You", based on the music of the rock group Queen, is performed nightly at the Paris Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. (2004)

Already a successful comedian, Ben Elton turned to writing situation comedies during the 1980s and penned BBC classics such as The Young Ones (1982), Blackadder II (1986), Blackadder the Third (1987), Blackadder Goes Forth (1989) and during the 1990s The Thin Blue Line (1995).

He provided lyrics for Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical, "The Beautiful Game", which was nominated for Best Musical at the Laurence Olivier Theatre Awards in 2001 (2000 season).

He and Richard Curtis were offered the chance to write "Police Academy 6: The London Beat", but turned it down.

His father was of German Jewish descent. His mother was of English background. Through his father, he is a grandson of scholar Victor Ehrenberg, and a third cousin of singer Olivia Newton-John and actor Max Born.

The plot of his play "Gasping" shows a similarity to this quote from Tressell's "The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists": "If it were possible to construct huge gasometers and to draw together and compress within them the whole of the atmosphere, it would have been done long ago, and we should have been compelled to work for [the Monopolists] in order to get money to buy air to breathe. And if that seemingly impossible thing were accomplished tomorrow, you would see thousands of people dying for want of air - or of the money to buy it - even as now thousands are dying for want of the other necessities of life. You would see people going about gasping for breath, and telling each other that the likes of them could not expect to have air to breathe unless they had the money to pay for it.".

He and Andrew Lloyd Webber were awarded the 2000 London Critics Circle Theatre Award (Drama) for Best New Musical for "The Beautiful Game", performed at the Cambridge Theatre.

Was a host of The Prince's Trust 30th Birthday: Live (2006).

Has three children : Bert, Lottie and Fred.