Today's Birthday 2/3
Today's Birthday, March 2: Australian politician Anthony Albanese (1963 - )
Anthony Albanese thought he knew his own story well, but when he was a teenager that story was turned upside down.
Raised by a single mother in public housing in inner Sydney the future high-stakes politician had grown up hearing the tale of how his mother had met and married an Italian man while overseas, only to have him die in a car accident when she returned home to Australia.
But one night at the dinner table, Albanese's mother Maryanne revealed there was more to the story.
She told her son that his father may still be alive. When she had told him she was pregnant, he had revealed his betrothal to another woman in his Italian home town - leaving her with little option as a young Catholic woman having a child out of wedlock.
And so Anthony Norman Albanese was born on March 2, 1963.
The long-time politician says he was raised on three great faiths "The Catholic Church, The South Sydney Football Club and Labor" - and he joined the latter group at just 15 years old.
Albanese was the first person in his family to finish high school, and then to attend university after finishing a Bachelor of Economics at Sydney University.
He then went on to work at the Commonwealth Bank before scoring a role for government minister and former prisoner of war Tom Uren.
He was elected as the Member for Grayndler in 1996 and has held the post ever since.
Following Labor's election victory in 2007, Albanese held a number of frontbench positions, before ascending to deputy prime minister in 2013.
However, he missed out on being elected leader of his beloved party, after Kevin Rudd stepped aside following Labor's decisive defeat in the 2013 election and he narrowly lost to Bill Shorten in a month-long leadership contest.
Conceding defeat he promised his son Nathan he would become a more involved soccer dad with the extra time on his hands.
However, speculation remains that he could one day score Labor's top job - thanks to his unwavering popularity.
In Sydney's Inner West he has a reputation as something of a "cult hero", according to Fairfax, with a craft beer named in his honour and his services as an indie DJ often in demand.
Albanese announced he had split from his wife of 30 years, former NSW deputy premier Carmel Tebbutt, in January.
