After war service with the Royal Indian Navy in British India, he was offered a place at RADA, but instead went to Merton College, Oxford.

[4][7][8] He also appeared as the waiter Garkbit in the television version of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy,[4][9] Théoden in the 1981 BBC Radio adaptation of The Lord of the Rings, as General Hermack in the 1969 Doctor Who serial The Space Pirates,[4] and in Bachelor Father.

[12] On stage he played many leading and supporting roles, spending five years with Birmingham Repertory Theatre[4] during which time he attracted considerable notice in the title part of Shakespeare's Henry VI.

For Birmingham Rep, he also played parts as diverse as Richard II, Alec in Coward's Still Life (the story better known as Brief Encounter) and the Elephant in Obey's Noah.

Later stage roles included The Headmaster in A Voyage Round My Father, and Colonel Pickering in Pygmalion with Alec McCowen and Diana Rigg.