The 1% Club's Lee Mack's real life - real name, job before fame, sacking and rarely-seen wife

Lee Mack is no stranger to our TV screens but on Saturday night he's back with his primetime ITV quiz show, The 1% Club. But the Southport-born star worked his way up to his starring role on the small screen.

Lee Gordon McKillop, known by his stage name Lee Mack, was born in August 1968, making him currently 55 years old. He lived above a pub until he was 12 when his parents separated.

Upon leaving school, Lee worked in a bingo hall and as a stable boy. After working at the stable of racehorse trainer Ginger McCain in Southport for three days, he asked if he could ride one of the horses, to which the trainer agreed. Without realising, the then-teen chose Red Rum as the first horse he would ride.

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After ditching the stables, Lee became a Bluecoat entertainer at the Pontins holiday resort at Hemsby in Norfolk. He previously claimed he was sacked after appearing on stage drunk one night, forgetting a joke and insulting an audience member.

He then ended up working for six months at Pontins in Morecambe before taking on various other jobs, and performed his first "open mic" slot in 1994, while studying at Brunel University and within 18 months of graduating, he was a full-time comedian.

Lee first came to prominence by winning So You Think You're Funny at the 1995 Edinburgh Festival Fringe and first appeared on TV in 2001 as a cast member for ITV's The Sketch Show, also featuring in the American show of the same name. And as the saying goes, the rest was history with Lee forging a successful stand-up and TV career, including creating his own BBC sitcom, Not Going Out.

Away from his career, Lee is happily married. It was during his university days when Lee set