He was born in Leeds, the son of James Dodgson, an artist who drew cartoons for The Yorkshire Post under the pseudonym "Kester".
By 1933, he worked regularly for BBC radio in London, initially writing and presenting variety shows and concert party broadcasts.
[5] In 1939, he devised and produced Danger - Men at Work!, a successful comedy series which continued intermittently until 1947, and co-wrote the political satire Adolf in Blunderland, broadcast in October 1939 shortly after the outbreak of the Second World War.
[2] Kester was one of the most prolific BBC radio writers and producers during the war, and worked with comic performers such as Robb Wilton, Lupino Lane, Will Hay, and George Formby as well as on variety programmes.
After the war he also worked on the theatre acts of such performers as Jack Hulbert, Cicely Courtneidge, Fred Emney and Richard Hearne.