LEAVING school at 16 and telling dismayed teachers “I'm going to be a clown!” may not have sounded like a career plan.

But the 42-year-old entertainer Pete Matthews continues to have the last laugh as he remains THE entertainer top cruise ships book for their most prestigious events - including their maiden voyages.

Today Pete, who lives at West Parley, is launching and embarking on the VIP 'shake down' cruise, for the new Royal Caribbean Ovation of the Seas which sets sail from Southampton this afternoon.

In fact the dad of two has worked on the inaugural cruise of all three Queens (Queen Mary 2, Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth), the last five Celebrity ships and the three most recent Royal Ships: no other entertainer has achieved this!

Pete, who goes under the name Crazy Juggler, performs comedic juggling, stilt-walking and unicycling as part of his novelty act.

Last April Pete also embarked from Southampton on the inaugural cruise of The Anthem of the Seas and in 2014 he launched the Royal Caribbean ship Quantum of the Seas.

Pete who has been juggling since he was a child told the Daily Echo: "It's just lovely to be the guy they ask for. It's a real feather in my cap. It's wonderful. I'm so chuffed but then I have put in the hours!"

In deed, Pete has now been working on ships for over 20 years.

At 16 he was the magician in Selfridges for Marvin's Magic but says: “Juggling was my first love, and that's what I have made a career out of.

He honed his performance skills working at Bournemouth's Manchester Hotel as a teenager and here he got his “big break” - performing with Cannon & Ball at the Darlington Civic Theatre for a one-night show.

“Little did I realise, this was an audition for their summer season the following year.”

Just a year after leaving school and aged just 17, Pete joined Cannon & Ball for a 25-week run on Blackpool's North Pier, followed by a second summer season with them in Great Yarmouth.

Then came summer seasons with Paul O'Grady's Lily Savage again on Blackpool's North Pier, and Joe Pasquale in Weymouth and Torquay. Then aged 19 he appeared on ITV's The Barrymore Show - which went out to 18 million viewers. The following year he was on the TV show You Bet!, performing a Diabolo/trampoline challenge where he had to throw and catch the Diabolo 15 times in a minute while performing back somersaults.

Top cruise ship and talent agent, Allan Blackburn saw this and rang ITV for his contact details: Pete was just 20. And so in January 1995 Pete flew to the USA to join The Sun Viking for Royal Caribbean, his first cruise ship and he has never looked back!

Pete will be working on the Ovation of the Seas throughout the summer joining at various ports around the Mediterranean.