During the Second World War he served in the ranks in the Royal Armoured Corps from 1941 and as an officer in the Durham Light Infantry from 1944, landing on the Normandy beaches on D-Day with the 9th Battalion DLI in 1944.

He was interviewed at length about his wartime experiences by the Imperial War Museum as part of their Durham Light Infantry oral history project.

On the final occasion on which he faced the bankruptcy court, completely deadpan, he announced to the surprised assembly: "I presume I have now won the Official Receiver outright!"

In 1955, at Casey's prompting, Clitheroe appeared in Call Boy, a radio variety series featuring popular stars of the day including Ted Lune, Margery Manners and Dennis Goodwin.

Written mainly by Casey, writing under his stage name 'Cass James', assisted by Frank Roscoe and Ronnie Taylor, the initial sketches featuring Jimmy Clitheroe were short 8-minute items, but within three years had expanded into the full-length situation comedy The Clitheroe Kid, written mainly – and produced solely – by James Casey, who was now writing and producing under his real name.

Stalwarts Patricia Burke as mother, and Peter Sinclair as grandad, were complemented by Diana Day as Jimmy's older sister Susan (nicknamed "Scraggy Neck"), her gormless boy friend "Daft Alfie" played by Danny Ross, and Tony Melody as Mr Higginbottom their rough-hewn neighbour.

Nevertheless, they could occasionally be heard stifling a laugh, at Jimmy's preposterous comments or Danny Ross's splutterings as he became tongue-tied and came out with ridiculous statements and gaffes; a sharp cry of "Ooh me leg!"

He did, and Dodd recorded several over-length live shows, which Casey edited, almost non-stop over a period of 24 days, to create the series: the resulting six programmes being a notable success.

The closing credits on the resulting series, which he produced, included a reference to him as Gentleman James Casey, a typically Northern compliment, meaning a genuine gentlemen.

Upon retiring from radio, Casey revived his father's variety act to great acclaim with Roy Castle and Eli Woods, on The Michael Parkinson Show on BBC television in 1982.

As a measure of his stature within the profession, many famous stars willingly appeared as the second stooge in the act during those years, including Roy Castle, Ray Alan, Jimmy Cricket, Roy Hudd, Paul Shane, Reg Varney, Les Dawson, Mike Craig, Don McLean, Charlie Williams, Dave Evans, and Johnny Casson.