Though it may not be the most glamorous way to the top, many of our best known and loved celebrities began their ascent to fame and fortune from the very bottom.

Indeed, in contrast to the West End premiers and month-long Caribbean holidays, they started out making the tea for their elders and slowly but surely climbing their way up their chosen employment ladder ever upwards.

For example, while Simon Cowell is now the reality show judge all the world loves to hate who spends his free time in between launching pop's next big things, in the late 1970s he could be found doing menial administrative work in his position as an mailroom worker and then an assistant to an A&R man at EMI.

The music mogul reached the position of producer through nothing more than hard work, perseverance and the ability to make his superiors sit up and take notice of his natural talents.

From then, the rest is history and, whether love him or loathe, him, there's no doubting that Cowell has risen to the top of his game after leaving school at just sixteen.

The same can be said for another TV Mr Nastys, The Apprentice's Sir Alan Sugar.

As with Cowell, he chose not to carry on with his education after the age of 16 and instead started out selling car aerials and electrical goods out of the back of a van in London's East End.

From an initial £100, the tycoon has amassed a personal fortune of more than £830 million, comfortably making him wealthier than most of his competitors who went down the university route.

The professional field where it most pays to stick at it in the hope of getting a break, even if it means knuckling down in a lowly position, is the entertainment industry.

Noel Gallagher was busy penning some of Oasis' biggest and best hits while keeping the wolves from the door with a job shifting gear for the Inspiral Carpets, while Sound of Music Star Connie Fisher was able to keep her vocal cords warm as she waited for her big break when she worked in a call centre.

The same can be said for the latest winner of Cowell's X Factor show, with Leon Jackson only giving his notice in at the clothes shop where he worked when it became clear he may just be able to make a living out of singing swing numbers.

Russell Crowe's waiting career and Johnny Depp's pen salesman ambitions were also cut short as soon as they landed their first real roles, though neither had to tough it out for as long as Ricky Tomlinson, who only gave up his job as a plasterer to concentrate on acting when he was 40.

Cynics would argue that, for every Depp or Gallagher, there are hundreds of talented individuals currently being wasted in lowly and unrewarding jobs.

However, it can also be said that genuine talent eventually rises to the top, even if it takes decades of hard work, menial work to get there.