Dyslexia cost me €8.4m fortune - Keith

The 66-year-old, who found fame in the 1980s with his puppet sidekick Orville the Duck, said he was dubbed "thick" at school and never learned to read.

It meant that he was duped into signing unfavourable contracts and still continues to work today despite recovering from a severe form of cancer in the spleen.

Harris, who lives in Lancashire with 48-year-old former fashion model wife Sarah and their two teenage children, told a Sunday newspaper: "I've made about £7m (€8.4m) throughout my career, but I've lost it all too.

"It's all down to the dyslexia. I can't read or write. Reading contracts? I didn't, I just signed them.

"I got into trouble many times. I signed myself away for 14 years to someone once - 25pc I was paying. I had no idea," he said.

hnews@herald.ie