Leaving school at 14, he became a tailor's apprentice, but soon left to join an all-purpose act, which sang, danced and performed acrobatics all around one of the main variety circuits of Britain.

[1][3] In 1941, Lee was heard singing by Johnny Claes, a trumpeter who had recently formed a swinging dance-band called the "Claepigeons".

A 1948 review in Billboard for "You're in Kentucky" said, "Poor recording balance, bad song submerges the work of a fine English singer named Benny Lee.

[6] The Decca company came in with a contract and from 1950 he recorded such hits of the time as "Enjoy Yourself (It's Later Than You Think)", and "Down at the Ferry Boat Inn" with the Stargazers.

Every type of pop song seemed to suit Lee, and he covered Guy Mitchell's no 1, "Pretty Little Black-Eyed Susan", and the Hank Williams hillbilly hit, "Your Cheatin' Heart".

Cautiously subtitled "a fortnightly magazine for under 21s", Teleclub on its first outing introduced the pop star Teddy Johnson and radio's "Man in Black" with Valentine Dyall.

[1] The following year Lee was cast as Arthur Honeybee in Friends and Neighbours, an early sitcom, with Peter Butterworth in the other lead playing George Bird.

[12] Lee was later regular support for Michael Bentine in his series It's a Square World (1960), along with Clive Dunn, Dick Emery, and Bruce Lacey, the madcap inventor.