Kevin McCloud’s life began in a house his parents built and for the past 20 years he has brought millions of television viewers along on the trials and tribulations of home builders as they struggle to create their own dream place.

At Cambridge University he studied history of art and architecture, reportedly abandoning an earlier desire to train as an operatic baritone in Italy. After initially working in theatre design he opened a lighting design practice, which at one point employed 26 people and whose work can still be found in Harrods, Edinburgh Castle, and the Dorchester hotel.

His break into television came with the Home Front series on BBC Two in 1998, but it was Grand Designs – the first programme was a timber-framed kit house in Sussex – that put McCloud on a path to international fame. The series has been sold to 145 countries from Australia to Canada and has spawned multiple spin-offs plus a popular live event held annually over 10 days in London.

In 2007 he branched out into the property business himself, creating HAB Housing Limited (“Happiness, Architecture, Beauty”) with his first development on the outskirts of Swindon, Wiltshire. Since then the schemes have expanded, culminating in one of the biggest housing developments in Bristol last year.

He lives in Somerset with his wife and four children.