Bragg was born in 1957 in Barking, Essex,[REF] one of the sons of Dennis Frederick Austin Bragg, an assistant sales manager to a Barking cap and hat maker, and his wife Marie Victoria D'Urso, who was of Italian descent [REF].
Bragg was educated at Northbury Junior School and Park Modern Secondary School (now part of Barking Abbey Secondary School) in Barking, where he failed his eleven-plus exam, effectively precluding him from going to university.