Bill Bailey's long-lasting marriage to wife Kristin after they met at his own gig
The comedian has been announced as one of the stars of this year's Strictly Come Dancing, and his wife Kristin Bailey will no doubt be cheering him on from the audience
Video Loading
Click to play
Tap to play
The video will start in 8Cancel
Bill Bailey was today confirmed as the (lucky number?) seventh contestant on this year's Strictly Come Dancing.
It will be a huge change for Bill, 55, who is more used to entertaining crowds with his trademark blend of satire, surrealism and musical interludes than ballroom dance skills.
While Bill's addition to the line-up is set to bring joy to many of his loyal fans, there's no doubt that his number one supporter will be wife Kristin.
The pair met way back in 1987 at one of Bill's comedy gigs.
At the time, blonde Kristin was running a bar in Edinburgh and Bill said he was immediately drawn to her 'wild spirit.'
With Bill's touring sent him across country, he couldn't forget about Kristin and pursued her by writing letters every day for an entire year before they started dating in 1988.
Recalling the first time he laid eyes on Kristin, Bill said: "She had a very distinctive style.
"She had this long brocade coat, and I realised she was a free spirit and did her own thing.
"We ended up chatting away, and all went to a party, and she put me up on her sofa," he told the Independent.
To say thank you for her generosity Bill bought Kristin a bunch of flowers and began writing to her.
"The correspondence went on for a year.
"I didn't have a computer for email, phoning wasn't easy. It was very old fashioned," said the romantic star.
Bill's sweet gesture did the trick as Kristin fell for the long-haired funny man and began a relationship.
Then after ten happy years together, Bill and Kristin were travelling around Asia when they spontaneously decided to get married.
"We were travelling around Asia and sailed into a place called Banda, with a beautiful lagoon, and a smoking volcano on one side and a Dutch colonial fort, an old church and remains of a little town on the other.
"We decided to get married there and then," explained Bill.
It wasn't just their wedding that was inspired by the eventful trip to Indonesia.
The couple went on to have a son in 2003 who they called Dax, named after a child they met on their travels.
Speaking about the significance of the name in an interview with the Guardian, Bill said: "Contrary to popular belief, Dax is not named after a Star Trek character.
"The name came from a friend of ours who married an Indonesian man.
"They had a son called Dax and we just always associated it with being in Indonesia and always said, 'If ever we have a child, that'll be in the running'.
"At the same time I'd rather lost track of the various Star Trek spin-offs and was completely unaware that Dax was also the name of a character in Deep Space Nine until someone told me."
Discussing his parenting style in an interview with the Mirror in July, Bill said: "I’m quite relaxed as a parent. Maybe I should be more disciplinarian, but it’s not in my nature. I’m pretty hands-on in terms of activities, though. I like the boy to do stuff.
"We go cycling and paint-balling together, and I’ve taught him how to pitch tents. The way he’s turned out is my biggest achievement.
Former costume designer Kristin now handles Bill's business affars.
Over the last three decades Bill has gone from performing at comedy clubs with only one person in the audience to sell out arenas.
Today he was announced as the latest celebrity to join the Strictly Come Dancing where he will be watched by millions on Saturday night BBC.
Admitting his dance skills were patchy, Bill joked: "I'm not really Lord of the Dance... I'm more the caretaker.
"So it will be quite a challenge but that's what this is all about... Actually that is one of my favourite dances, the Hokey Cokey, so I'm hoping to introduce that this year as one of the dances."
MirrorCeleb