My family originally hailed from Leigh-on-Sea and Westcliff-on-Sea on the sunny Essex peninsula.

By the time I popped out of mum we were living in North London. I was raised, and at the same time paradoxically lowered, on the lovely councilly streets of Brimsdown, Enfield.

After uninspiring drug-assisted exam failures, I ended up working in a shop. Then I thought: "Sod this, what's Nineteenth Century Realism like?" and went and got a gleaming First in English.

After that I worked in an office for bit - and that's when it happened...
A dare. A curiosity. A one off. A 'let's see what'll happen'.
And I had a go at stand-up comedy.

By 2006 I was out of a proper job and performing monkey antics all over the world. I've won the Edinburgh Comedy Award, I do national tours - I've wrote a play which went to the Soho theatre... and I've also written a novel.

That's fucked up isn't it? Who taught chavs to read?

I live back where I belong, in Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex with my cats Keith and Wayne.

I love cheese, anything curried, and the minimalist writings of Haruki Murakami.

My favourite word is defenestration.