david Walliams FACT FILE

1. David Edward Williams was born in 1971, the son of a London Transport engineer and a lab technician. He grew up in Banstead, Surrey.

2. He graduated from the University of Bristol with a BA in Drama in 1992.

3. During university holidays, he performed with the National Youth Theatre, where he met future comedy collaborator and friend, Matt Lucas.

4. Aged 24, his first job in showbiz w

as writing for The Ant and Dec Show.

5. In 2006, he swam 21 miles across the English Channel

in ten and a half hours, raising over 1.5 million pounds

for Sport Relief.

6. In 2011, he swam a mammoth 140 miles down the River

Thames, raising over 2.5 million pounds for Sport Relief.

In an awesome act of heroism, he saved a Labrador from drowning in the process! However, he also injured

himself pretty badly during the swim, and had to have

emergency back surgery in late 2013.

7. The paperback of one of David Walliams's fun-filled

children's books, Gangsta Granny, dominated the UK

charts, remaining at number 1 for a total of 22 weeks.

8. His debut children's novel, The Boy in the Dress,

features a young boy named Dennis, a fashion fan who

loves to dress in girls' clothes. David himself was dressed

up by his sister as a child, and has cross-dressed in many

roles throughout his acting career.