Take a peek at the private snaps of Matt, Charlie and James before they hit the charts as Busted

(picture of Busted when they started promoting)
Potential pop idols
Matt: Here we are at Smash Hits for the first time. Not many people know this, but we once auditioned for Simon Cowell. He was weird - in his office was a mirror which said, 'Simon, you look terrific'. He must look at it every morning to inspire himself!

(pictures of James dancing and in Oliver Twist)
Treading on the boards
James: I was in the London Palladium production of Oliver Twist. I played a street urchin for two years, and after that I got the lead role. Being in Oliver was great - I even got to appear in the Royal Variety Performance in front of Prince Charles. I was excited that day because Take That were backstage.

(pictures of Matt in Casualty)
Mattie on the telly
Matt: Here I am in Casualty, playing a criminal called Lennie Christie. When I left school I appeared as an actor in a few TV shows - I did The Bill, Casualty and Eastenders. Appearing in Eastenders was my first ever job. At the time I was really, really obsessed with actors. It wasn't a big role in Eastenders though - I played 'Roller Blader No.2'!

(picture of Charlie in Bugsy Malone)
Charlie the genius
Charlie: One thing people don't know about me is that I had a drama scholarship at school. I loved appearing in Bugsy Malone as Fat Sam in 1998. My teacher said, 'Charlie is outstanding and one would find it difficult to find a better performance in any prep school. I very much look forward to seeing him develop.' I also sang in the musicals Guys And Dolls and Cabaret.

(picture of James at school)
The model student
James: I was pretty good at school, but I do remember having a few letters sent home, which I intercepted by getting up early and waiting for the postman. I got good GCSE results - two A stars, an A, four Bs and three Cs. I also won loads of trophies at school for tennis and running.

(picture of Matt in Scouts uniform)
Matt: I got thrown out of the Scouts two days after I started. I was roller skating around the Scoutmaster's hut when he came running out and deminded I leave. He thought I'd broken into his hut! I was like, 'Dude, I'm in the Scouts.' But he didn't listen.