Joe Pasquale's showbusiness career began in the holiday camps

The 43-year-old entertainer is probably best known for his high-pitched voice, which he claims has been the same throughout his life and is not put on for comic effect.

"I've sounded like this for 42 years and to me it doesn't sound any different to anyone else. I sound more like my mum than anything," he has said.

This trademark has earned him the tags of "demented helium balloon" and "cartoon water fowl" during the years he has been performing.

Essex-born Pasquale started his working life as a meat porter at London's Smithfield Market.

His route into entertainment is a familiar one for many stars - working on the holiday camp circuit.

Pasquale's jobs included calling bingo numbers and refereeing wrestling tournaments.

Pasquale's career has included children's television

The comic's definitive break came in 1987 when he entered television talent show New Faces.

Pasquale's brand of madcap humour and nonsensical ditties - including I Know A Song That'll Get On Your Nerves - won him second place in the grand final, despite, he said, "not having an act".

Small screen exposure led the performer into a full-time career, including four Royal Variety performances and his own television shows, such as The Crazy World Of Joe Pasquale in 1999.

Stage role

But Pasquale never forgot his holiday camp roots, and he took his show on the road to a string of seaside towns such as Great Yarmouth and Weymouth.

He also made a foray into being a comedy actor, starring in stage play The Nerd, a role previously filled by Rowan Atkinson and Nicholas Lyndhurst.

Pasquale's TV appearances continued as a regular guest of chat show host Des O'Connor, and on a Bafta tribute to late comedian Bob Monkhouse.