ANTON DU BEKE REVEALS FATHER STABBED HIM ON BOXING DAY

Anton Du Beke has revealed in his memoir, Steps in Time: The Moments that Made Me, that his father stabbed him in the leg and stomach on Boxing Day in his mid-twenties. The Strictly Come Dancing judge told The Times the attack happened at the family home in Sevenoaks, Kent, while he was on the phone to his dance teacher. He got outside and flagged down a passing police car; officers took his father away. Du Beke said: "The police carted him off, but after that I never laid eyes on him again." He said he does not know if his father was charged.

Du Beke described his father, Antal, who was born in Hungary, as a violent alcoholic, and said the attack led to his parents' divorce. His mother, Ascensión, is from Spain. Du Beke said he spent four days in hospital afterwards but told people he had torn a hamstring, because he felt "embarrassed" about the real cause of his injuries. He said he does not drink alcohol, telling The Times: "Everybody's an armchair psychologist." He said he tried alcohol once at 17 and was sick.

Du Beke's father died in 2001; he learned by telephone and said it "didn't resonate at all," leaving his mother a note to tell her. He said he no longer feels troubled by the relationship, stating: "I have to move on." Du Beke said the stabbing is "not the defining moment of my life" and that he does not want sympathy. He has been on Strictly Come Dancing since its first series and judges the show from series 19. He is married to Hannah Summers and has nine-year-old twins, George and Henrietta.