The seasoned comedian is no stranger to lipstick, powder and paint, and in his latest role headlining the New Victoria theatre’s panto Cinderella as Dandini, he gets to don the war paint again.

"I love playing Dandini”, he says. "I don't wear dresses. Never have. But make-up! Now that's a different thing."

Julian is joined in the show by his big sister Frankie, who plays The Fairy Godmother, and both admit that it was her who got him started on the glossy-lip road after he kept stealing her make-up!

"It's true" says Julian. "She was out a lot, dancing with the Tiller Girls and I used to spend hours in her bedroom.

“She had a great big dressing table with a mirrored lid that lifted up. I can still remember that dressing table.

“And the eye shadows and blushers and lipsticks. Bliss."

Luckily for Julian his parents didn’t have too much of a problem with their son’s penchant for prettiness, despite their strict backgrounds.

He explains: “Dad was a policeman and Mum a probation officer and they were both devout Catholics.

“But actually they were very liberal people. I was lucky."

He wasn’t so lucky at school as at home though, but after a tough time being taught by cane-bearing Benedictine monks at school, Julian gained a place at Goldsmiths College to study Drama and English.

However after leaving college, he found jobs to be a bit thin on the ground, which explains why stints as a singing telegram specialising in Tarzan, nappy-grams for new mums and even the role of a human Christmas tree sit proudly on his CV.

It wasn’t until he turned to cabaret as Gillian Pie Face that Julian found fame, and since then he and perennial companion Fanny The Wonderdog have never looked back despite the odd ‘sticky moment’.

Julian is relishing the role of Dandini and loves panto, describing it as “a hybrid of cabaret and theatre”.

He says the show promises “lots and lots of laughs” and that “it's the queen of pantos."

The same could be said for Julian himself I guess!

Julian and Co will be on stage at the New Victoria Theatre, Woking until Sunday, January 26, 2003.

Call the box office on (01483) 545 900.