Island Life Magazine Ltd October/November 2015 | Page 16

INTERVIEW
around, and in the end even got himself
invited to the Brighton Gay Awards.
Now he says of his brief involvement
with local politics: “I learned that as long as
you know your scripts, you’re OK - but my
overall experience of politics was that it’s a
much dirtier business even than showbiz!”
So why this craving for attention? What’s at
the root of it?
Possibly his early years as the youngest of
three children of an unlikely couple: dad
was from a family of travelling showmen,
born in a Romany wagon and seemingly
unable to settle to domestic life, whilst his
mother was well-educated and the daughter
of a Rolls Royce engineer.
“Mum said my dad was very handsome,
so I guess she just fell for him, but it was

probably a big mistake really.”
His parents divorced when he was 10
and he was brought up in a council flat in
Brighton – hardly the kind of start for a life
of celebrity.
But David quickly showed a talent for
acting, and by the age of 10 he was
appearing in a local amateur dramatic
society’s Sound of Music. His sister worked
behind the scenes, while his brother had
found a passion for boxing, and was calling
himself Michael Van Day.
This actually where David’s ultimately
famous name came from: A local paper in
Brighton featured the three siblings and
called them the “Van Day trio” – which David
quite fancied for himself, and so retained.
It wasn’t long before he needed a stage

“I don’t tend to
take myself that
seriously when
it comes to my
image, my friends
and family know
me for what I am,
and that’s all that
matters to me.”
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