He was the most Googled topic in the UK last weekend and no wonder – the Sage of Sandbanks, Harry Redknapp, was knocking them out of the park in the Celebrity Jungle.

In addition to amusing campmates with his stories of accidentally driving over his beloved wife, Sandra, and of failing to recognise that the ‘nan’ of the nice young lady he was chatting to about racehorses was the Queen, he’s proved to be game for all the horrible challenges, too.

It’s helped turn him from retired football manager to National Treasure and a relationship goal – and he’s the bookies favourite to win.

>> See all the pictures of Harry Redknapp over the years in a gallery 

But it’s also got a lot of people asking just WHO is Harry Redknapp?

Not the famous football manager, who has looked after teams from West Ham, to Bournemouth, Portsmouth – who he lead to an FA Cup win - Southampton and Birmingham, but the Cockney bloke who has melted the nation’s hearts by, basically, being totally besotted with his wife.

Bournemouth Echo:

So here’s our handy guide to Harry (Warning: There’s still a lot about football.)

  • Harry and…The Beautiful Game

Henry Redknapp was born in 1947 in Poplar, East London, the same place they based TV series Call the Midwife.

He played at Tottenham and West Ham, making 175 appearances for the Hammers. During this time he became good friends with Bobby Moore, the peerless England captain who lifted the World Cup in 1966. (And at whose memory he wept when talking about him for a TV tribute.)

“Even when they had Moore, Hurst and Peters, West Ham’s average finish was about 17th,” he once said. “It just shows how useless the other eight of us were.”

Bournemouth Echo:

He joined Division 3 AFC Bournemouth in 1972, spending four seasons with the club and re-joining it in 1982 as assistant manager, becoming manager a year later.

He then progressed to West Ham and the other clubs -famously moving from Portsmouth to bitter rivals Southampton and then back again - but what really put him on the radar was his ‘Harryisms’ the kind of observations, quotes and self-deprecation he’s been coming out with in I’m A Celebrity

  • Harry and…The People who play the Beautiful Game

On West Ham striker John Hartson: "John Hartson's got more previous than Jack the Ripper."

On a training ground bust-up between West Ham players Alvin Martin and Matthew Rush: "I've seen better fights at a wedding."

Bournemouth Echo:

On signing Luther Blissett: "Before I signed Luther Blissett for Bournemouth, my chairman at the time said, “Harry, they tell me he's over the hill. Why are we signing him?” I said, “He'll score goals.” In his first game he scored four against Hull. After the game the chairman said, “We haven't seen the best of him yet.” I said, “I think we have."

On Gareth Bale: “He drove me mad in training. Technically, he was outstanding but he always seemed to be playing with his hair.”

  • Harry and…Life

It's certainly been an eventful one. Whilst managing Bournemouth he nipped over to Rome for the World Cup and was badly injured in a fatal car crash. He's been father-in-law to Louise Redknapp. He was prosecuted for two counts of allegedly cheating the public revenue and was found not guilty on both counts in 2012. He was also awarded compensation for an illegal police raid on his Sandbanks home.

Bournemouth Echo:

On being asked about the possibility of going to prison after the court case he said: “Was I scared of going to prison? Yes I was. You’re relying on 12 people who might not like you. They might have been Arsenal fans for all I knew. One had a stained jacket, for goodness sake.”

  • Harry and….charity

He and Sandra have been stalwart supporters of a number of charities.

They are Fundraising Presidents for Leukaemia Busters, based in Southampton and he is a long-standing patron of Julia’s House.

Bournemouth Echo:

Harry opens the Sandbanks ward at Poole Hospital in 2009

“The care that Julia’s House gives to terminally ill children and the support that they provide to their families is vital," he said. "I’m a father myself but I can’t imagine what it must be like for these families.”

He’s also patron of Dorset Cancer Care Foundation and has backed the Lewis-Manning Hospice, too as well as attending Prince's Trust events.

Bournemouth Echo:

  • Harry and…the wife

Harry met Sandra Harris at an East End dance club called Two Puddings.

“Me and my mate Macca, he was a goal keeper for West Ham, saw these two lovely girls and I said to Macca shall we have a dance with those two,” said Harry.

Bournemouth Echo:

"Macca is a good looking geezer and I look back on it now and think Sandra must have seen us both coming over and thought ‘I hope I aint got him’ and she went for me, 54 years later we’re still going strong."

He politely shaded his eyes from watching the women shower in the camp, stating that his wife was the only person he wanted to see in a bikini.

And hearts melted again when he confessed: "That’s the biggest problem I have got. We do everything together. I have been with Sandra for 54 years and I hate being away from her."

Bournemouth Echo:

Soon he won't have to be - she has reportedly jetted out to Australia to be closer to him.