Early Life
He was born in Thatto Heath, St Helens, Lancashire, the youngest of four children of Laurence and Patricia Pennington. Vegas has two older brothers (Robert and Mark) and an older sister (Catharine). He was raised as a Roman Catholic, but is now non practising. At the age of eleven, he attended St Joseph's College in Upholland, a Roman Catholic boarding-school seminary, to train for the priesthood, but came back homesick after four terms. He also attended West Park School, Prescot Road, St Helens.
He studied art and ceramics at Middlesex University for three years and gained a third class degree. He returned to Thatto Heath, St Helens and became a barman at the Brown Edge Pub, Thatto Heath.
In 1996, Vegas made his TV debut as a contestant on Win, Lose or Draw in the UK under his real name of Michael, but made references to the fact he wanted to be a comedian and that his stage name was "Johnny Vegas". His appearance was briefly shown during Channel 4's 100 Greatest Stand-Ups and BBC Three's Almost Famous 2. In the mid-nineties, Vegas spent time living in London and Glasgow with the intention of becoming a stand-up comedian. In London, he was mentored by 'comedy godfather' Malcolm Hardee.
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“Many a woman shudders ... at the terrible eclipse of those intellectual powers which in early life seemed prophetic of usefulness and happiness, hence the army of martyrs among our married and unmarried women who, not having cultivated a taste for science, art or literature, form a corps of nervous patients who make fortunes for agreeable physicians ...”
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