In the 1930s and early 1940s, he played in various dance bands, including those of Ambrose, Ray Noble, Teddy Brown, and Maurice Winnick, and wrote arrangements.
[2] In 1947, Winnick persuaded Hines to take over the musical interludes in the popular radio programme Ignorance Is Bliss, after Sid Millward and His Nitwits left the show.
Though Hines, as a serious musician, was initially reluctant, he formed a band, which was given the name Dr Crock and His Crackpots by Winnick.
They typically played classical themes at breakneck speed, interspersed with noises such as cowbells and hooters; writer Richard Anthony Baker described them as sounding "like a cross between a small symphony orchestra and a Dixieland jazz band".
[1] In the 1950s and early 1960s, Dr Crock and His Crackpots, with a line-up comprising both musicians and comedians, toured successfully, often topping the bill at variety shows and performing in a style similar to Spike Jones and His City Slickers.