[1] Farnes was born in Leytonstone, Essex, and was educated at the Royal Liberty School in Gidea Park.

Although rain intervened, so the match was drawn, Gubby Allen selected him for the tour to Australia that winter, where he played in the 4th and 5th Tests.

He achieved his highest first-class score of 97 not out against Somerset at Taunton in 1936, putting on 149 for the tenth wicket and just missing out on his century.

He joined the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve in the Second World War, and trained in Canada.

[3] He died shortly after returning to England, when the Vickers Wellington that he was flying crashed after takeoff from RAF Chipping Warden in Oxfordshire during a night-flying exercise, killing Farnes and Pilot Officer Cecil Hayes.

[5] Farnes' partner at the time of his death was a widow whose only daughter married the film critic Barry Norman in 1957.