Lesley Garrett once said: “Every woman should have half an hour with Anton Du Beke”.

“You can have four hours with me if you like – that’s how long it’ll take me to get to Gateshead,” says the debonair king of the ballroom, chatting to me on his mobile from a car taking him up the A1 to his next show. The amiable joker of BBC1’s Strictly Come Dancing has been with the hit show since its first series, waltzing on to the dance floor with celebrity partners including the aforementioned Yorkshire opera singer, Esther Rantzen, Patsy Palmer and Kate Garraway. With his partner for the last series, actress Laila Rouass, he reached week 12 of the show.

Perhaps more than any other professional dancer on Strictly, Anton has a high profile beyond the glare of the glitter ball. He hosts BBC TV shows Hole In The Wall and Step Up To The Plate and is a regular on panel shows, from A Question Of Sport to Loose Women.

His heart lies in ballroom though, and he’s currently touring with dance partner and fellow Strictly professional Erin Boag in Anton And Erin Steppin’ Out, which hit Bradford on Saturday.

“On Strictly we do all sorts, but ballroom is what we specialise in and for me it’s what dance is all about,” says Anton. “Our show has a Broadway feel; it celebrates songs from shows and movies – big, lush numbers everyone knows.

“We’ve got a West End singer, guest dancers and our fabulous 30-piece orchestra. It’s a stylish show, paying tribute to the days of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.”

Did Fred and Ginger movies inspire Anton as a young dancer? “Absolutely,” he says. “I was having tea with Fred Astaire’s daughter and we were discussing those old dances and how timeless they are. They look as classy now as they did more than 70 years ago.”

Anton started dancing at the age of 14. He trained in ballet, jazz and contemporary dance, but it was in ballroom that he won national and international awards.

“I didn’t come from a dancing family, there was no showbiz running through my veins, but I loved to dance,” he says. “I didn’t really get teased. I think I’ve since had more stick at the golf club than I ever got at school.

“It’s probably easier for boys to take up dancing these days, largely thanks to shows like Strictly.”

With hunky contestants like Hollyoaks actor Ricky Whittle strutting their stuff, dancing has never looked so macho on prime-time telly. “There’s a lot to be said for role models. If David Beckham did Strictly, every lad in the land would be signing up for ballroom lessons!” laughs Anton.

Since it was first launched on an autumn Saturday night in 2004, Strictly Come Dancing has made ballroom sexy.

While Anton loves the show, he says there’s nothing like experiencing dance in a live theatre.

“It loses some of its energy on TV,” he says. “When people come to see the Strictly tour, or my shows with Erin, they say, ‘you don’t half move fast, you cover the whole floor’. On telly you see what the camera is pointing at; it might be a bit of fancy footwork rather than the whole dance sweeping across the floor. Hopefully when people see us dance live, it encourages them to return to theatres and see more dance.”

Anton and Erin met in 1997 when Erin moved to London from her native New Zealand. They had each been successful in international dance competitions and were one of the first couples on Strictly Come Dancing. Erin reached two finals, with comic Julian Clary and athlete Colin Jackson.

Anton and Erin choreographed and starred in hit live shows Simply Ballroom and Cheek To Cheek, and more recently filmed Ballroom High, a Sky1 series teaching a group of teenagers to ballroom dance.

“Dance is important for all sorts of reasons; it’s about fitness, motivation, confidence, posture, and the whole etiquette that goes with what we do,” says Anton.

“There’s a focus on discipline and respect, something that’s lacking in a lot of schools. Not that I’m blaming the schools.

Anton believes anyone can dance, even GMTV presenter Kate Garraway, his Strictly partner of 2007, who was subjected to weekly verbal batterings from the judging panel.

“Steps are easy, anyone can learn them. Some just learn quicker than others, and with Strictly we’re with our partners for a limited amount of time,” he says.

Now he’s becoming as familiar as a TV personality as a dancer, surely it won’t be long before Anton is hosting his own chat show, blending interviews with an occasional foxtrot. “I’d love that!” he says. “I think it would work really well, don’t you?”

Watch this space…