MY CULTURAL FIRSTS
Alan Cumming: Kate Bush made me realise I wasn’t the only weirdo
The Scottish actor talks about meeting Ken Dodd, crying over Dumbo and “chubby little Jimmy Osmond”
Alan Cumming
DAVE KOTINSKY/GETTY IMAGES
The Sunday Times
Rather tragically, as a child I used to put on shows on my own in a shed. I had a crazy upbringing; there are swathes of it that I don’t remember because it was so traumatic. [In his autobiography Cumming revealed the emotional and physical violence his father inflicted on him]. I do remember performing in the Christmas play at primary school and people laughing. I got a thrill out of that.
The Famous Five series by Enid Blyton. Her novels were always set in a rural situation, which I could relate to. My dad was the head forester of Panmure Estate, in Angus on the east coast of Scotland. Blyton’s series was like a heightened version of my life, if I had had lots
