Biography

On 4th July 2006, starting from a beach near Dover, successfully swam the 21 miles across the English Channel in 10 hours 30 minutes. He did this to help raise money for Sport Relief.

His surname is Williams, but changed it to Walliams for the Actor's Equity.

Has acting experience with the National Youth Theatre, where he met comedy partner Matt Lucas.

Friend Matt Lucas served as best man at his wedding to Lara Stone (May 2010).

From 5 to 12 September 2011 swam the length of the River Thames (140 miles) and raised more than £2m for Sport Relief. In the process, he saved a dog from drowning in the river.

On his role in Virgin Territory (2007) (in which he makes a cameo at the beginning): I have done a few cameos in movies and quite enjoyed it - other than this one. I did this part because I liked Hayden Christensen. I do this scene in the start of the film. I'm playing the cart pusher. All I was thinking as I was doing that was: 'What am I doing?' It was terrible, that's the way my mind works. It's terrible.

[on Peter O'Toole] He was hugely entertaining. The greatest company. A legend on screen and off.

Doctor Who (1963) was my favourite TV show and Tom Baker cast a huge spell over me as a child. I used to watch it with my dad and spent hour upon hour in the playground dissecting that week's cliffhanger - "How on earth will the Doctor get out of this one?" The Doctor is a great role model because he uses his mind rather than his fists to win. It's such a British institution because it celebrates eccentricity, not good-looking action heroes. I read all the novelisations. Later in life when Tom Baker released his autobiography I queued up to have my copy signed. I couldn't believe it when he agreed to do the voice-over for a tiny radio pilot that Matt Lucas and I were doing called Little Britain. For him, it was just another voice-over job; for me it was magic. It turns out he really is quite otherworldly - you wonder if he has come from another planet! We'd keep the tapes running between his lines because he tells the most hilarious, poetic stories. You don't know if they're true or not but they're always brilliantly entertaining. The awe that you have for your childhood heroes never leaves you.

I was obsessed with the film Flash Gordon (1980). I still am. I had the sticker album, I collected the cards in Weetabix packets and my mum bought me the single when I got into secondary school. Yes, I even wrote to Jim'll Fix It (1975) asking to meet Brian Blessed, who played Prince Vultan.

I love the idea of someone who's not prepared to compromise to fit into society. That's why my first children's book, The Boy in the Dress, is about how it's OK to be different.