Ant & Dec

The pair grew up in Newcastle Upon Tyne and lived two miles from one another but never met until they joined Byker Grove.

They later lived two doors apart in Chiswick until Ant moved into a larger house a few miles away with his wife.

The duo are known for their friendship, but have admitted they have fallen out several times. They once had a fight in a lift, which involved Ant punching Dec in the stomach for failing to listen to him. Dec retaliated but only ended up knocking Ant's cap off.

They both enjoy golf and football and have taken part in Soccer Six

Anthony David McPartlin was born on 18 November 1975 and is the eldest of three children, having a younger sister called Sarah and a younger half sister called Emma. When his father walked out on the family, Anthony was left as very much the man of the house and helped greatly with family chores.

He attended Rutherford Comprehensive High School achieving 2Bs, 2Cs, 2Ds and 1E. He had always loved acting from a young age and was recommended by his drama teacher to the scouts who attended his school in search for children to take part in Byker Grove.

Ant married his long-term girlfriend, Lisa Armstrong, in mid 2006 with Dec as the best man. Ant met her on tour when they were known as PJ & Duncan whilst she was a member of the 1990s pop band, Deuce.

Declan Joseph Oliver Donnelly was born on 25 September 1975 and is the youngest of seven children. Being the youngest, he admits he had everything done for him and uses this excuse for why he is such a bad cook. He has three sisters; Patricia, Moira and Camila; and three brothers; Eamon, Martin and Dermott. Dermott was a role model to Declan as he became a priest, a career Declan briefly considered before he went into acting.

Declan attended St Cuthbert's High School achieving 3Bs, 2Cs, 1D, and 2Fs, which he got in Art and Physics. He saw an advertisement for Byker Grove auditions in a local paper and immediately rang up for a part.

Declan broke his nose when he was playing football on the set of Byker Grove. He says his nose is his worst feature, and that he considered having a nose job until he found out what was involved.

Although Ant had built some television experience with a brief stint on the children's classic, Why Don't You?, Declan was the first of the duo to acquire his place on the BBC children's drama series Byker Grove, playing Duncan. A year later (in 1990) Ant joined the cast playing PJ (Peter Jenkins). Their friendship began when their storylines collided together creating a friendship offscreen as well as on.

Declan Donnelly also played a farm worker in the adaptation of the novel The Cinder Path, in his teenage years.

After they left the TV series, they turned their hand to pop music, releasing (under their Byker Grove character names "PJ & Duncan") songs such as Why Me? (Is It Justified), Our Radio Rocks and The Monkees cover Stepping Stone. Their most famous hit was the BRIT Award nominated Let's Get Ready to Rhumble which included the infamous lyric "Watch us wreck the mic, watch us wreck the mic, watch us wreck the mic. Psyche!". In total, they released and helped write three platinum albums and sixteen singles, see PJ & Duncan discography for further information.

The duo never had a number one hit in the UK; even their World Cup 2002 song "We're On The Ball" reached number three, ironically beaten by Will Young who was on the show Pop Idol which the duo presented.

However across seas in Japan the duo's song "Eternal Love," was number one for several weeks as well many other singles and all three of their albums. Success also struck in Germany and many other EU countries.

Ant & Dec were also successful with the hits "When I Fall In Love" in 1996 and "Fallin'" in 1997, which achieved greatest success in South East Asia..

During their music career they also helped present the children's show Gimmie 5.

Later, the duo gained their own sketch comedy show (The Ant & Dec Show) on Children's BBC in 1995, as well as an early evening show on Channel 4 (Ant & Dec Unzipped) in 1997.

After presenting various other BBC programmes such as Friends Like These, the BBC believed the duo had run their course and decided to let them go. Rivals ITV quickly signed the pair on in 1998.

They enjoyed success fronting ITV1's Saturday morning children's programmes SMTV Live and CD:UK alongside Cat Deeley.

SMTV Live was voted number 27 in the 100 Greatest Children's Television Shows that aired on Channel 4.

They subsequently moved to Saturday evening to present Pop Idol, PokerFace and Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway. Their highest audience figures to date were obtained whilst presenting I'm a Celebrity, Get Me out of Here! in February 2004. On June 9, 2007, the duo began hosting ITV's new show, Britain's Got Talent, featuring Simon Cowell, Amanda Holden and Piers Morgan.

Ant and Dec are back on the Television on Saturday Night, 8th August 2007, they are starting a new run of Saturday Night Takeaway!!