ITV James Martin's Saturday Morning: Johnny Vegas' real name, two wives, and 'hard battle'

Many food-lovers' weekends start with James Martin's Saturday Morning on ITV - and today's guests include much-loved comedian Johnny Vegas. The Merseyside star is arguably one of the most recognisable faces in comedy, but how much do fans really know about his life away from the cameras?

Johnny Vegas, 51, who was born in St Helens, where he still lives now, is well-known for his portrayal as Geoff Maltby aka 'The Oracle' in ITV sitcom Benidorm from 2007 and 2009 and from 2015 to 2017. Before then, he'd starred in the BBC Radio 4 sitcom Night Class and BBC Three's sitcom Ideal.

His TV debut was in 1996 when he was a contestant on the game show Win, Lose or Draw under his real name - Michael Joseph Pennington. Whilst in the competition, he spoke of wanting to become a comedian under the stage name of 'Johnny Vegas'.

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Johnny has been married twice - first tying the knot to TV presenter Catherine 'Kitty' Donnelly in August 2002. Their relationship was on and off over the space of six years.

To poke fun at other celebs selling off exclusive pics of their weddings to magazines for high sums, Johnny sold pictures of their ceremony to adult comic Viz for £1. At the time, he told the Manchester Evening News that the move landed him in hot water with his then-new wife's family.

"My wife's granny bought Viz and said it was filth," he admitted. "She told me: 'Your wedding photos are next to a comic strip of a lad with unfeasibly large testicles'. It put me 10 steps back with my in-laws."

Johnny and Catherine share 18-year-old son Michael Pennington Jr, who bears an uncanny resemblance to his old man. Explaining why the youngster