He had become music director and organist at St. Anne's Church in London's Soho district by the age of eighteen,[4] prior a brief period of military service during the First World War and then studied at Christ's College, Cambridge.

[4] Gay's career blossomed due to his talent for writing catchy, popular melodies in styles ranging from music hall to operetta.

[4] This originally opened in 1937 at the Victoria Palace Theatre, London and, after a shaky start, gained popularity when the BBC broadcast it live on radio on 13 January 1938.

In October 1938 one of its leaders read "While dictators rage and statesmen talk, all Europe dances – to 'The Lambeth Walk'.

[4] After the war, his musical output diminished and he concentrated more on production, in part because of increasing deafness and also because the fashion for cheerful Cockney-themed songs was on the wane.

[3] It now forms a part of the Noel Gay Organisation which includes divisions for television and theatre and is a significant British showbusiness agency, under the day-to-day control of his family.