At the age of 35, former holiday camp entertainer Rod Street is the country's youngest managing director of a racecourse company.

Born in Woodindean, a stone's throw from Brighton racecourse, Mr Street is now managing director of Northern Racing, the company that runs the course, along with Uttoxeter, Newcastle, Sedgefield, Bath, Hereford, Great Yarmouth and Chepstow.

Although Mr Street discovered the joys of the sport of kings at an early age, it was not until he was in his mid-20s that he considered earning a living from it.

Mr Street, who now lives in Staffordshire with his wife and three children, became managing director of the group last month.

He said: "My interest in horse racing came at an early age. My mum's partner was a bookmaker who came from a family of bookmakers. At the age of eight I started taking an interest.

"I used to be with him when he watched the racing on the television and helped him work out odds and study forms.

"I even used to give him some of my meagre pocket-money to bet on a horse on a Saturday."

On leaving Kings Manor School he had aspirations to become an entertainer but for a short time he was an apprentice in a hairdressing salon.

"I got on well with everyone in the salon and I had a good teacher but I was really useless at it and I had to go. Hairdressing wasn't for me."

The longing to be an entertainer soon got the better of him and he started work at a holiday camp in Cornwall as a Blue Coat.

"It was the early Eighties and the start of my career in the world of entertainment. I was a general all-round entertainer.

"My mentor was the brilliant comedian Pete Conway, the father of Robbie Williams.

"In the summer, a little Robbie would come down to the camp and follow his dad around."

After his Blue Coat stint, Mr Street caught the travel bug and spent six years working overseas as a holiday rep and resort manager in Lloret, Lanzarotte, Majorca and Turkey.

"Coming back from my travels in my mid-20s, I arrived in Brighton in the middle of the recession and there was little opportunity. I went to stay with friends in Staffordshire for a few days but the short holiday turned into an extended stay.

"I started working in stand-up comedy and promoting other comedians in pubs and clubs around Staffordshire. I even did a few gigs at the time of the boom in alternative comedy.

"I was promoting bands for about 18 months. It was great fun but a hand-to-mouth existence. Then I got the opportunity to get back into travel by looking after a travel firm's operation in New York City.

"Just before I started in the Big Apple I met the girl of my dreams, Jenny. I first saw her at one of my gigs where I was performing a stand-up routine but she didn't notice me.

"When I spoke to her at another event she said she didn't remember me but that didn't matter - Jenny and I were married within three months.

"When I came back to the UK I looked for a proper job and that is when I began my career in racing.

"I started as assistant commercial manager at Uttoxeter. I went for the interview with a keen interest in racing but a background in entertainment and leisure.

"I remember meeting Sir Stanley Clarke, chairman Northern Racing, for the first time.

"He looked me up and down and decided my talents fitted with his ideas for the racing business and offered me the job.

"I went on from becoming commercial manager to general manager, a director of Northern Racing, managing director of the racecourses at Bath, Utoxeter and Brighton and finally managing director of the whole group.

"I've worked for Sir Stanley for eight years now and it has been a remarkable time for me. Sir Stanley is a one-off. He took me on when he couldn't be sure from my background that I was going to be able to make it. He had faith in me and I appreciate that.

"Sir Stanlely is unconventional. When he started in racing it was run by people dressed in tweed with double-barrelled names. He has introduced a breath of fresh air and a commercial edge to the business.

"Working with Stan has been a remarkable experience. He is clearly keen to allow the sport to develop and attract a new type of racegoer. He has changed the way people look at racing and made it into a modern business.

"I love the sport and I'm lucky to be working in it. Northern Racing's motto is 'Racing is our business and our passion' and that applies to me too.

"A lot of people think I should be good at tipping winners but I'm not so they only ask once."

Mr Street still attends Kings Manor School reunions and regularly meets up with Channel 4's racing commentator Simon Holt who lived in the same road as him when they were growing up in Shoreham.

His greatest experienced was shaking hands with Mohammed Ali at the Sportsman of the Millennium ceremony last year.