Luke Macgregor / Reuters / Reuters

Farage has had all manner of setbacks in his life but contracting testicular cancer aged 24 was one of the worst.

"I believed I was going to die," he later wrote in his autobiography, adding that he was originally misdiagnosed and had to sign a form "consenting to any mutilation named apt" before going in for his operation.

Against the odds Farage survived the cancer, which did not spread elsewhere, although he lost a testicle in the process.