Early Life
Goodman was born in Bethnal Green, the son of Louisa (née Eldridge) and Len Goodman, an electrician. One of his maternal great-great-grandfathers was a Polish immigrant.
Goodman moved to Blackfen near Welling (then in Kent) when he was six years old and attended Westwood Secondary Modern School where he was a member of the cricket team. He started dancing at the age of 19 after a short time as an apprentice welder (for Harland and Wolff in Woolwich). He tried dancing only in an attempt to recover from a foot injury sustained while playing football. He turned professional, won various competitions, and retired from dancing after winning the British Championships at Blackpool in his late twenties. He is a recipient of the Carl Alan Award, in recognition of outstanding contributions to dance. In 2006 and 2007, he was nominated for the Emmy Award in the Outstanding Reality/Competition Program category.
Read more about this topic: Len Goodman
Famous quotes related to early life:
“Many a woman shudders ... at the terrible eclipse of those intellectual powers which in early life seemed prophetic of usefulness and happiness, hence the army of martyrs among our married and unmarried women who, not having cultivated a taste for science, art or literature, form a corps of nervous patients who make fortunes for agreeable physicians ...”
—Sarah M. Grimke (1792–1873)