‘My dad was fine with it,’ said Steele Quinnell, who tried his father’s sport but thought: ‘Nah, this isn’t for me’
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ipping coffee in Cardiff Bay during a break from his day job as a personal trainer, Steele Quinnell, a scion of the Quinnell rugby dynasty, is matter of fact about how his path in life has diverged from that of his relatives.
His grandfather Derek, father Scott and uncles Craig and Gavin are renowned as literal and figurative giants in Welsh rugby – all well over 6ft tall and fearless on the pitch.
Like the other members of his family, Quinnell, 26, is in the public eye, but on a very different stage – as drag queen Heidi Heights, an act he launched in the spring. Earlier this month, the Ffos Las race course, where Quinnell regularly gigs, asked him to give an interview to the local paper to promote a race weekend, which then exploded online as delighted rugby fans realised there was a plot twist to the Quinnell legacy.
