He left school with no qualifications to speak of, but a spell in the jungle left him hungry for self-improvement. The newly studious Joe Pasquale lifted his head from his books to speak to Helen Geraghty.

Just turned 50, Joe Pasquale has spent his life putting himself down in public. Making himself look stupid before packed houses has become a raison d’etre. And 'self-effacing’ in interviews is only the half of it.

His silly, squeaky voice became his trademark as he launched himself as a holiday camp entertainer and helped him towards his big break on New Faces in 1987.

One of his subsequent stage shows was called Twin Squeaks and another Does He Really Talk Like That?

But, setting off from his Rochester home for his latest stage tour, the dad-of-five recalls that his 2004 success as King of the Jungle in I’m a Celebrity made him think again about what he might actually be capable of – if only he were to put his mind to it.

“Firstly, I was terrified of flying, a real deep-seated fear, but after all that hanging out of helicopters I took a load of exams to pass my pilot’s licence, so now I’m a qualified pilot,” said Joe.

“Then, I thought, I had never had a fight, so I took up boxing. Now when I’m not on the road I do a lot of sparring with a load of coppers at a place in Eltham. I think they quite like it and I get beat up a lot!

“I’d never done any running, so I did the London marathon in five hours 22 minutes in aid of Diabetes UK.

“Before that all I’d ever done before was run from one side of the stage to the other.”

But maybe most challenging was Joe’s decision to revisit his failed education and start studying with the Open University for a degree in geoscience. He is now in year two of the course.

He says: “I’ve always had an interest in geology. In the days when kids weren’t allowed in pubs, my dad used to take me down the pub in Grays, in Essex, leave me outside with a packet of crisps and a bottle of coke and I would wander down to Grays beach to find fossils and rocks.

“I always had that fascination for that kind of thing.

“I didn’t get any exams; I missed a year at school because I got knocked over in a road accident.

“Now I’m in the second year of a BSc and doing a module on tsunamis and earthquakes.

“Studying with the Open University, you have to have self-discipline and you have to make yourself do it. I love doing the work.

“I suppose when you are self-employed, like me, you have to have deadlines for learning scripts and things.

“I think I’ve realised I’m not as stupid as I thought I was.”

Joe’s new show comes to Chatham on Saturday, October 22, before heading to the Orchard at Dartford next month.

He says: “Basically, the show is two hours of nonsense. Life is too short, everyone takes it too seriously. You can bring your nan and your kids to my show. There will be dancing, mind-reading, partying and nonsense.

“There are too many bad things going on in the world and I think people need a bit of an escape. And I try to bring that.”

His humour, strong on visual gags, might not be your thing, but Joe Pasquale is one of those people who makes you feel clever and important; like he is a nobody and you are the important one, who needs to be made to laugh at all costs.

And yes, he really does talk like that.

The Joe Pasquale Pull My Finger tour is at Chatham’s Central Theatre on Saturday, October 22, at 7.30pm. On Sunday, November 6, the tour comes to the Orchard Theatre, Dartford at 7.30pm.