When it comes to comedy, no one has done it like Lee Evans.

Before the era of Michael McIntyre and Live At The Apollo, Lee Evans carved out a record-breaking career, which took him from a council home to selling out six nights at the London O2 Arena.

In November 2005, the Perrier Award-winning comedian smashed the world record by playing to the largest ever comedy audience, 10,108 people at the Manchester Evening News Arena.

A former boxer, Lee went on to break more records. On his Big Tour of 2008, he shifted more than 500,000 tickets on 59 arena dates. He has now sold more than four million DVDs.

But the 47-year-old was not always such a roaring success, as he explains in his autobiography The Life of Lee, which he will be signing copies of at Waterstone's in Bluewater.

His book charts Lee's ups and downs on the way to the top, taking readers on a darkly humorous journey through his childhood spent running wild on a Bristol estate. His unconventional school days saw him publicly derided as "a failure" by a teacher.

Of course, this all sets up Lee for a glorious last laugh, as he guides readers through a grim teenage period of numerous dead-end jobs. When he was cleaning toilets and plucking turkeys, he could never have imagined that one day he would be playing to thousands of adoring fans at the O2 Arena.

The book also reveals how Lee got his first taste of showbiz, living out of a suitcase and accompanying his entertainer father around the smoky, unforgiving working men's club and theatre circuit.

Desperately struggling to be accepted, this quiet, young loner always saw himself as an outsider. But he finally met the love of his life and accidentally discovered the one place where he felt at home: the stage.

Lee, who has appeared in movies including There's Something About Mary, MouseHunt, The Fifth Element and The Martins, has been happily married to Heather for 27 years. They live in Essex and have a daughter called Mollie.

After three years away from the limelight, Lee has come back in a characteristically big way.

Lee Evans will sign copies of his autobiography at Waterstone's in Bluewater on Thursday, November 24 at 5.30pm. Call 01322 624831 for more information. The Life of Lee by Lee Evans is published in hardback by Penguin and costs £20.