Johnny Vegas - Biography

Rate: You'd never believe this from looking at him but Johnny actually attended a boarding school when he was young to train to become a PRIEST! It obviously didn't work out, though, and Johnny seemed to console himself by eating.

You can't say that ex-Redcoats never come of anything. Johnny spent a bit of time working at Butlins, trying in vain to entertain families on their summer hols. But his passion seemed to be in ceramic design, funnily enough, so he studied it at Middlesex University for three years before entering the big bad world and trying to have a career in pottery.

So, once Redcoating and Pottery were eliminated from the 'to do' list, Johnny's comedy career started properly when he won a critics' award at the Edinburgh Festival in 1997 and was actually the very first newcomer to be nominated for a Perrier Award.

But it hasn't always been comedy for Johnny. He was the face of the advertising campaign for the disastrous launch of ITV Digital alongside a knitted monkey who, from what we can gather, ended up being a lot more popular than him. After all, you could buy Monkey in the shops but where were the Vegas dolls? Exactly.

A good partnership never dies, as demonstrated in new adverts for a brand of tea which have seen Johnny back together with Monkey for more 'adventures'.

You were never going to see Johnny's marriage pictures in one of the glossy celebrity magazines, were you? In fact, for his special day with Kitty Donnelly in 2002, Vegas sold the pictures for a paltry 1p to Viz magazine. The couple had a son but ended up divorcing properly in 2008.

Johnny is now starting to lose weight after being diagnosed with gout. What a heart-warming story.