His business story is already incredible - started while still at school and later sold for millions - but until now we didn't know where the start-up cash came from.

Fasthosts founder Andrew Michael's rise to fortune became public knowledge when in 2006 he sold the website-hosting business he started as an A-Level project aged just 17. The sale price was a cool £61 million.

He had already become known for his lavish parties, and then the back story of how he started the business that made him millions with a friend from his Cheltenham school became well told.

Mr Michael owned 75 per cent of the business and walked away from it having pocketed £41 million of its sale price. He was aged just 26. 

Now, thanks to an interview on the BBC's The Boss series, Mr Michael, 39, admitted the £30,000 start-up funds of were 'acquired' in a rather unorthodox way - on his mother's credit card, without her permission.

The self-confessed computer boffin and his friend's idea was to create a website-hosting service for small and medium-sized firms. At the time he felt the market was catering only for big businesses.

"We had the computers we needed in my bedroom at Mum's house, and we had created the software ourselves," Mr Michael told the BBC.

"But what we really needed was a high-speed internet connection, which in those days involved digging up the road. It cost about 30 grand, but we had no money."

He also needed to pay for some expenses adverts to sell his idea.

This was where his mother's credit card came in. 

The St Edwards School pupil's gamble was that he hoped to earn enough money in the first month to pay off the credit card bill when it arrived, before his mum became wise to what he had done.

"By the end of the month we had enough clients and money to pay for the internet line and the advertising," he said.

And in case you were wondering, his mother forgave him.

While his co-founder went off to university he stayed home to work one the business full time, and the rest is history.

Post Fasthosts he went on to create the business Livedrive, which he also later sold for another multi-million pound sum.

In between times he became known for his lavish parties featuring stars from the music industry of the time, including girlbands Girls Aloud and Sugababes and guitar band The Darkness, who famously played at his staff party at the old Gloucester City Football Club ground.

He also splashed out for US R&B singer Usher to sing at a girlfriend's birthday party.

His latest business is Bark.com. The website allows people to book everything from a Dog walker to a plumber, from a personal trainer to a guitar teacher and all manner of other professional services.

Fasthosts itself continues to thrive from its Gloucester headquarters, now employing 155 staff with a turnover of £39 million.

Not surprisingly it was keen to differentiate it from the tale.

Simon Yeoman, CEO of Fasthosts: "We are aware of the interview that Andrew Michael has recently conducted with the BBC where he mentions spending £30,000 on his mother's credit card without her knowledge to purchase an internet connection.

"We would like to clarify that Fasthosts was purchased by United Internet in 2006 and has not been associated with Mr Michael for 13 years. We would not condone theft to fund a business.

Fasthosts today remains a world-leading innovator of hosting services. We are the first to market in the UK with Exchange Email based on Exchange 2019 and have championed events such as the internationally renowned Women in IT Awards and the UK's largest esports event, epic.LAN, this year alone.

"We feel these activities reflect our culture today far better than any recent comments from a previous owner seeking headlines from actions he took of his own accord two decades ago."

The picture above is of Alex Alley's Pixel Boat, a world record attempt sponsored by Fasthosts. You can find out more about the boat and the challenge here: Alex Alley's Pixel Boat .