Real-life Billy Elliot prepares to graduate from Bolshoi academy

Henry Perkins, 19, who originally comes from Yateley, Hampshire, will receive his Bolshoi Diploma in academic and dance studies soon.

Henry, won a place at the top academy in 2006, at the age of 15 and has since them become fluent in Russian as he learned his craft.

His mother, Sue Perkins, a maths teacher, told BBC News from Moscow: "I'm very proud and full of admiration of the fact that he came out here just a few days after his 15th birthday.

"It's not easy – they do not have political correctness like we have in the UK and their work ethic is quite incredible –- they work through injuries and tiredness."

Her son has been dancing since the age of five and threw away his football boots and asked for ballet shoes instead after seeing children dance in a pantomime. Mrs Perkins raised private sponsorship to enable her son to go to the school along with a grant from Hampshire County Council.

Henry is likely to take up a contract with the National Opera Ballet of Estonia when he graduates.

In the film Billy Elliot, a young boy from a mining village wins a place at the Royal Ballet School after turning his back on his dad's hope he will take up boxing.

The Bolshoi Ballet can trace its history to 1776.