Comedian Micky Flanagan said he realised his father was a criminal because there were "50 Hoovers in the front room".

The stand-up star, who was raised in Bethnal Green in the east end of London, told Radio 4's Desert Island Discs: "He was a fish porter for most of my life, prior to that he'd been a welder, he'd been involved in crime at a certain level, him and his mates."

He added: "We sort of didn't talk much about what was going on inside the house outside the house. Say we were out and I said to my mum, 'Oh Mum, you know those hairdryers indoors?' and she would say 'Earwigs at the rhubarb, don't ever talk about anything outside of the house about what's going on inside the house because essentially you don't know who is sitting next to you or overhearing it'."