The true story behind Kinky Boots

The award-winning musical Kinky Boots, tells the story of Charlie Price, who tries to save his family's shoe factory by partnering with drag queen, Lola, to create high-heeled boots with more endurance than those currently on the market. The musical was based on the 2005 film of the same name but the story was mostly inspired by true events that took place in Northamptonshire.

In the 1990s, Steve Pateman's family-run shoe company, W.J Brooks, based in Earls Barton, Northamptonshire, was experiencing financial trouble, much like the fictional Price & Son. W.J Brookes was founded in 1889 and four generations of family had worked there making footwear. Pateman was determined to save the business, and his solution was to start making high-heeled women's shoes in larger sizes for transgender people, drag artists and others whose needs were not being met by other businesses.

The story was later made into a BBC documentary, Trouble at the Top: The Kinky Boot Factory, which in turn inspired the 2005 film and the hit musical with music and lyrics by Cyndi Lauper and book by Harvey Fierstein. The musical’s setting is still Northamptonshire, placing it in Northampton just a few miles away from village where the story began.

Pateman says that people regularly ask about the true story of Kinky Boots, explaining: "It's all good for Northamptonshire, it's not my story anymore it's a Northampton story - it belongs to us all now. And it's good for the county which is what we need nowadays.

He adds: "They want to know how much of it is true, did you really go on a catwalk, was my character real? It's been good to be able to fill them in."

Johannes Radebe, who is currently starring in the West End production of Kinky Boots playing at London Coliseum, had the chance to meet Pateman during this successful run in the UK touring production of the musical.

Talking to the BBC’s One Show, Radebe, said the meeting was “surreal”, adding: "It was lovely to get a nod of approval from him… He just said you go out there and spread the word of this show because it's needed right now.”

Kinky Boots the musical may also not be the end of Pateman’s story, with the development of a series reportedly in talks.