Daily Mail - Daily Mail Weekend Magazine
My life through a lens
Celebrities share the stories behind their favourite photographs. This week it’s I’m A Celebrity’s Vernon Kay, 46
1993 I had the best time when I moved to London to model. I was scouted by a model agent on a Friday and within a week, I’d packed in my job working in a DIY shop and I was living in a bedsit in Paddington. It all took off from there for me. Looks were never talked about in our family, but Mum would get compared to actress Lynda Carter. When The Beatles played two gigs in Bolton, she got asked out by all four of them. About that, she always says, ‘Your dad were better looking.’
2009 I was made up when the University of Bolton gave me an honorary degree [pictured after the ceremony] – and I also have a degree from Manchester Metropolitan in environmental science. I wanted to help protect the Amazon and stop carbon pollution, but because Sting was saving the rainforest everyone wanted to do it, so only those with good grades got jobs. I wasn’t much of a student. I spent most of my student days at Manchester’s Hacienda nightclub.
2001 Here I am proposing to Tess [Daly] in her parents’ front room at Christmas with both our families there. We got to know each other at a BBC Christmas party in 1999. She didn’t know anyone except for me because we’d worked together that day – she spotted me in a crowd and we had a laugh. We’re both Northern so we had that in common. I was instantly attracted by how independent Tess was, and that’s not changed at all. She’s still focused on the journey ahead.
2015 The proper movie stars are the ones who remember you. It had been a few years since I’d interviewed John Travolta, but when he saw me at the Super Bowl he came over and said, ‘We’ve met before, let’s have a selfie’, as you can see here. I was a fan of Grease growing up and he told me I reminded him of himself at 19. Look closely and you’ll see Britney Spears behind us.
1988 Even though dad was a long-distance lorry driver, he always made sure to be home early on a Wednesday to take me to American football practice. I was good at sports at school but this consumed me because it was different. It used to be on TV before or just after The Wonder Years so that’s how I got into it. Here I am with my dad and brother at Wembley to watch a game between the San Francisco 49ers and the Miami Dolphins.
1979 My mum Gladys worked in a mill and my dad Norman was a long-distance lorry driver – here we are at a wedding, with my younger brother Stephen. We lived in Bolton, and I spent many summers with Dad driving on the motorway. They gave me the work ethic I’ve instilled in my kids:
‘No one is going to give you anything – go out and get it.’
2004 Sir Bruce Forsyth was the definition of a gentleman and Tess was so proud to be working on Strictly Come Dancing with such a lovely man and an icon – here we are at an event. Brucie loved the audience. Everything was orientated towards the people – in front of him or at home – who chose to spend their time watching him. He had great admiration for the audience and always knew what they wanted, how to flip their switch and make them laugh.
2019 I love cars, but I’m only good at driving my wife mad. You won’t be seeing me driving any of the Formula E cars from the coverage I present anytime soon but I love the thrill of live TV – here I am with my co-hosts Jack Nicholls, Nicki Shields and Dario Franchitti in Saudi Arabia. It’s a completely different skill set to going onto a shiny floor and hoping people laugh at pre-written gags.