Fresh out of RADA, Ben treaded the boards at the Old Vic and starred, alongside ‘Alf from Home and Away’, in the now legendary production of Hamlet. On the first night a nervous Ben paced up and down so much before the show that the friction of his legs rubbing together caused his tights to burst into flames. Still after a week in hospital he was back and received rave reviews for what is still the only interpretation of Hamlet on ice.
“Strange” is all that can be said of Ben Milne’s next move. “Coming from Northern Ireland I wanted to try and do my bit for peace in my home country. An all Catholic production of ‘The Life Of Ian Paisley’ just seemed like a good idea.”  It wasn’t, to this day ‘The Life Of Ian Paisley’ remains the only play to be bombed by both Republican and Unionist terrorist organisations on the same night. “It was a fuckin massive explosion!” said one eyewitness. “Only the great get bombed. I think someone once tried to bomb James Dean”, said Ben of the experience.
Then Ben moved to China. It was a bold move and one that for the most part paid off. “The production was a huge success. Taking the story of Aladdin and pairing it with the philosophy of Chairman Mao’s Little Red Book proved irresistible to a Chinese audience” said Ben.
It was a shame then that while his work life was going so well he developed an addiction to crack cocaine.
Many think if it wasn’t for the intervention of Reg Noyes Ben Milne would have gone the same way as Kurt Cobain. “He found me in a skip, asked me if I wanted to be in ‘First One To Die Loses’. I said yes. The rest is history.”

Contact Ben at fotdl@firstonetodieloses.org.uk