He was born into a Jewish family in Glasgow, the son of a tailor, and grew up and was educated in Leeds, Harrogate, and Brussels.
After completing his education he worked as a shirt salesman, primarily to a show business clientele, while developing his own talent for comedy, especially his ability to imitate a wide range of different dialects, at private functions.
During the Second World War, he made regular broadcasts for the services, and by 1941 was well known for his comedy routines, in which one of his characters was Mrs Twiddleswitch.
"[3] He featured regularly in the radio series Hoop-La, with Robb Wilton and Max Wall, and became more popular after 1945 playing the role of a Cockney ignoramus on Ignorance Is Bliss, chaired by Stewart MacPherson, which was a BBC adaptation of the American show It Pays to Be Ignorant.
[2] He continued to feature on radio through the 1950s, notably as Mrs Mosseltoff on the show Ted Ray Time.