Ten Things You Never Knew About Noel Edmonds

A four-decade broadcasting career. One ever-present beard. And no questions, except one… how on earth did he do it? Noel Edmonds' CV reads like a catalogue of TV and radio's most iconic formats. Top of the Pops, the Radio 1 breakfast show, Top Gear, he's presented them all. He even introduced us to the lurid pink joys of Mr. Blobby on Noel's House Party. As the hairy-faced TV host continues his remarkable renaissance by hosting Sky One's mind-boggling new quiz show Are You Smarter Than A Ten Year Old?, DS dishes up ten fascinating facts about his life. And don't worry - we promise not to mention any of that cosmic ordering gubbins.

1. Noel earned a place to study psychology at Surrey University, but turned it down to become a newsreader for Radio Luxembourg.

2. Noel scored a top 20 hit in 1981 as one third of pop trio Brown Sauce. The other two members? Noel's Multi-Coloured Swap Shop colleagues Keith Chegwin and Maggie Philbin. The song? The oft-forgotten 'I Wanna Be A Winner'.

3. Noel once drove his Ford GT40 at 186mph. At 4.30 in the morning. Naked. Eek! We're glad we didn't take the Spymobile for an early morning spin that day.

4. Noel gave up flying his helicopter in 2001 after suffering a near-death experience.

5. In 2000 Noel unveiled plans to launch no fewer than four digital TV channels: a business channel called Biz4Biz, a mind, body and spirit channel called Positivity, a children's TV channel and a fourth that was never revealed. Seven years on, we're all still waiting.

6. Noel served as president of the British Horse Society for three years, before stepping down from the role in June.

7. How does Noel feel about his remarkable TV comeback? "It is not a case of 'I told you so', but Jesus, I'm grateful," he admits. "And the brilliant thing is I didn't have to go into the jungle or masturbate a pig."

8. Noel was a founder director of the Unique Broadcasting Group – a leading independent radio production company – but he resigned from the board in March 2006 to concentrate on his recently-revived TV career.

9. Noel once showed a lady his 'Gotcha!' in the back of a Range Rover. "You can't say you love cars if you haven't ever made love in one," he reckons.

10. How would Noel describe his image? "I have never been cool, yet I had a very good-looking student come up recently who said I was 'Arctic cool'," he admits. "You don’t get much back from teenage daughters so I knew [Deal Or No Deal] was working when they asked if they could bring school mates to a show."