Kit was born in Nyasaland, where his father was District Commissioner. He was sent to England to be educated as a cathedral chorister at Canterbury, at Tonbridge, and at Clare College, Cambridge, where he was a Choral Scholar under John Rutter, and a member of the Footlights.
After producing arts documentaries at BBC-TV Music and Arts, he left to write screenplays for Merchant Ivory, including ‘Maurice’. Subsequent screenwriting has included ‘Full Throttle’ and ‘The Vicar Of Dibley’, for Tiger-Aspect, ‘Hans Christian Andersen’ for Hallmark, and ‘The Lost Explorer’ for Tim Walker.
In 1982, he began working at the Comedy Store with ‘Kit and the Widow’, a two-man musical satire for which he wrote the songs. They were thrice nominated in the West End for Olivier Awards. Apart from their own series on BBC Radios 3 and 4, and two specials on C4 TV, they starred in ‘Y’ at the Piccadilly Theatre, ‘Salad Days’ at the Vaudeville Theatre, and ‘Tomfoolery’ and ‘Cowardy Custard’ (national tours co-starring Dillie Keane) and in their guide to opera, ‘The Fat Lady Sings’. They were frequently seen on the West End and international circuits as paid escorts to Joan Rivers. In 2011, they co-starred at the Royal Albert Hall in the first ever BBC Comedy Prom: their final appearance on stage together.
As a librettist/lyricist, Kit won the Vivian Ellis award with James McConnel for ‘Writing Orlando’, and studied at Oxford under Stephen Sondheim, where they wrote ‘Yusupov’ (Sydmonton Festival and Bridewell Theatre). His opera translations include ‘The Daughter of the Regiment’ (ETO), ‘The Turk In Italy’ and ‘La Belle Helene’ (ENO), ‘The Bartered Bride’ (ROH), and ‘Die Fledermaus’ and ‘The Magic Flute’ (Scottish Opera), ‘The Marriage of Figaro’ (Armonico Consort), ‘Veronique’ (Buxton), ‘Le Roi Malgre Lui’ and ‘Bluebeard’ (Grange Park), and ‘The Merry Widow’ for Opera North and Australian Opera (currently in repertoire). His libretto for ‘Varjak Paw’, to music by Julian Philips, went to the Linbury, Covent Garden and the Aldeburgh Festival, and ‘Monteverdi Dying’ is currently on tour with Armonico.
West End librettos include ‘The Beautiful and the Damned’ (Queens) and ‘Edna: The Spectacle’ (Haymarket). He produced ‘The Caribbean Tempest’, starring Kylie Minogue, in Barbados and Sydney, and directed, for Merry Opera, ‘Troy Boy’ (his adaptation of ‘La Belle Helene’), and ‘La Traviata’ (currently on tour). He presents TV and radio programmes on antiques, cabaret, chanson and domestic architecture, and is a regular panellist on Radio 4’s ‘Just A Minute’. Kit has sung to the British troops in Kabul, and for his column in ‘Country Life’ was named Writer Of The Year.
Married to the actress and academic and Bond Girl Kate Rabett, they have two children, and divide their time between homes in Norfolk and Cornwall.
Kit’s hobbies include riding, mushrooming, surfing, and painting almost as badly as he plays the piano.