Ten Things About... Ronan Keating

Over the past week, Ronan Keating has been hitting the headlines for all the wrong reasons. The previously squeaky clean Boyzone star has had to face a barrage of accusations about his private life and the end of his marriage. Whether all the rumours are true remains to be seen, but what's evident is that there's more to Mr Keating than meets the eye. Here are our ten fast facts about the Irish boyband icon.

1. Ronan Patrick John Keating was born on March 3, 1977. His mother Marie was a hairdresser, his father Gerry a taxi driver. He has one sister, Linda, and three brothers, Ciaran, Gerard and Gary.

2. What have Ronan, Bob Hope, Judith Chalmers, Michael Aspel and Tim Vincent all got in common? They have all hosted the Miss World competition! The Irish singer helmed the beauty pageant in 1998 with Eden Harel.

3. Ronan has collected many awards down the years, but we're fairly certain the one he keeps polished and on the mantelpiece is his 2003 'Rear Of The Year' title. His pert buttocks are in good company, as previous winners include Charlotte Church, Gary Barlow and Rachel Stevens.

4. Ronan has been known to tell a few fibs about his private life in the past. During his youth, he maintained that he was a virgin until he married his wife Yvonne. However, in an interview with the Daily Mail in 2006, the Boyzone singer admitted that this story was "bulls**t". "I made a massive mistake by saying I was a virgin at 16," he said. "I was - and I hope all kids are at 16. But when I was on the road there were lots of girls around and I lost my virginity early on."

5. While growing up in Ireland, Keating showed potential as an athlete as well as a popstar. A talented sprinter, he triumphed in the All Ireland under-13 200m, finishing with an impressive time of 23.4 seconds. It proved useful later in life when he needed to run away from the pesky paparazzi!

6. If you watched Ronan and Boyzone boss Louis Walsh on last year's X Factor, you could easily believe that they have forever been the best of friends. But it wasn't always this way. When Ronan opted to go solo and ditched Walsh as his manager, the pair exchanged a nasty war of words in the press. "That man absolutely tried to ruin me and if he thinks we can ever hug and make up he can forget it," said Keating. "I haven't heard from him in three years and I wouldn't have a problem if I never saw him again. He's not a nice character." Ouch!

7. Ronan's lists his primary musical influences as George Michael, U2, Van Morrison and Cat Stevens. Sadly, Ronan still lacks the musical credibility of his heroes, despite an endless stream of hit records.

8. Before being discovered by Louis Walsh, Ronan kept himself afloat financially by working as an assistant in a shoe shop. It must have been the perfect stepping stone for the glitz and glamour of the pop industry.

9. He may have had some help from Chris Moyles, Gazza Barlow and Cheryl Cole, but let's not take anything away from Ronan's impressive Comic Relief feat last year when he trekked to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro. You wouldn't get us up there in a hurry!

10. One of Ronan's most prestigious honours came in 1997 when he hosted Eurovision in Ireland. The year before A-ha's Morten Harket helmed the ceremony, while Terry Wogan and Ulrika Jonsson looked after proceedings in 1998. That's quite a tasty celebrity sandwich Ronan's involved in!