He joined the chorus of the Carl Rosa Opera in the late 1920s, and made his solo operatic debut for the company in 1931, as Sparafucile in Rigoletto; after the war years he had two spells as a principal bass for Sadler's Wells Opera (1946–51 and 1956–64), playing many of the standard roles of the operatic repertoire.
[1] One of his most significant appearances there, was as Fiesco in the first production in England of Simon Boccanegra, with Arnold Matters in the title role.
[1] From the 1950s he appeared at Covent Garden, London, and other venues in a wide variety of operas including Boris Godunov, Fidelio, The Bohemian Girl, Der Rosenkavalier, Le coq d'or, Aida, The Midsummer Marriage,[3] Die Fledermaus[4] and La Cenerentola.
[6] He created the roles of Ford in the first professional performance of Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Sir John in Love (April 1946),[7] Joseph Lavatte in Sir Arthur Bliss's opera The Olympians (1949), and in Canada, the Hon William McDougall in Harry Somers’ opera Louis Riel (1967).
[8] He appeared as the Ghost in the first performance in English of Humphrey Searle's opera Hamlet, in Toronto in February 1969.