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Mark Philip David Billingham (born 2 July 1961)〔“BILLINGHAM, Mark Philip David,” in Who's Who 2009 (London: A & C Black, 2008); online ed., (Oxford: OUP, 2008), http://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/article/oupww/whoswho/U247048 (accessed 4 January 2009).〕 is an English novelist whose series of "Tom Thorne" crime novels are best-sellers in that particular genre. He is also a television screenwriter and has become a familiar face as an actor and comic. ==Early years== Mark Billingham was born in Solihull, Warwickshire and grew up in Moseley, Birmingham. He attended the King Edward VI Camp Hill School for Boys grammar school in nearby King's Heath, and lived in that general area "right the way through university".〔(Mark Billingham, writing on his Forum ). Accessed 9 February 2008〕〔('Laugh? I almost died': Crime Novelist Mark Billingham talks to Ali Karim of ''Shots: The Crime and Mystery Magazine'' ). Accessed 9 February 2008〕 After graduating with a degree in drama, he stayed in Birmingham and helped form a socialist theatre company (Bread & Circuses). Bread & Circuses toured with a number of shows in schools, colleges, arts centres and the street.〔 In the mid-1980s he moved from Birmingham to London as a "jobbing actor", taking minor roles in episodes of TV shows ''Dempsey and Makepeace'', ''Juliet Bravo'', ''Boon'', and ''The Bill''.〔〔(Mark Billingham at the IMDb ). Accessed 9 February 2008〕 After finding himself playing a variety of "bad guy roles such as a soccer hooligan, drug addict, a nasty copper, a racist copper or a bent copper", he became somewhat disenchanted with acting, perceiving that the emphasis was not on talent, but on looks.〔 Around 1987 he decided to pursue a career in comedy, in part because: :"() one great advantage of stand-up comedy (that ) nobody gives a stuff about what you look like – as long as you're funny, and if you can do it, and people laugh, then you'll get bookings."〔 At the time, breaking into stand-up was not as difficult as it would later become, nor was there the modern infrastructure and chain businesses. Billingham cites his own route as a simple progression from 5-minute, unpaid "try-out" spots to (if one was deemed worthy) 10-, 20- and 30-minute paid slots.〔 As he stated, "within a year, you could be playing the Comedy Store".〔 Indeed, Billingham has headlined at the Comedy Store on many occasions, where he also appears regularly as a Master of Ceremonies.〔 Despite feeling rather ambivalent towards "serious" roles, Billingham still found considerable success by merging his careers as actor and comic to work in comedy shows. He was the human face on the puppet-representation-of-celebrities series ''Spitting Image'', and "the taller half" of top double act the "Tracy Brothers" with Mike Mole from Bread & Circuses days (now guitarist with British comedy punk band Punks Not Dad), appearing regularly on the radio version of ''The Mary Whitehouse Experience''. In 1988, he was seen on the children's comedy series ''News at Twelve'', in which the central character "broadcasts his own (imaginary) TV news bulletin every evening".〔(''News at Twelve'' at the IMDb ). Accessed 9 February 2008〕 In 1989, a new role in a children's series written by ''Blackadder'' Tony Robinson, would have a lasting impact, both on the nation's children and on Billingham himself. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Mark Billingham」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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