While working at BP's chemical factory in Salt End, east of Hull, Collier started making his workmates laugh with improvised comic routines during breaks (and all too often outside them).
He got his initial break at Hull's Perth Street club when a scheduled comedian failed to show, and Collier raised his hand when an audience volunteer was requested.
Though occasionally appearing on television thereafter, he made his main reputation on the northern club circuit, and was highly regarded by many fellow comics (notably Frank Carson, Les Dawson, and Little and Large, who were regular house guests).
[1] To casual television viewers, he was best known for two routines: one in the guise of a northern club compere whose microphone is working intermittently; another adopting the noises, gestures and movements of a chicken, using his outturned jacket to suggest the fowl's wings.
Collier's style was very much in the traditional northern-comic school, based on absurdist situational monologues rather than a 'series of jokes', and showed a notable influence of the 1950s star Al Read.
[5] His funeral service took place on 27 March 2013 at St Helen's Church, Welton, East Riding of Yorkshire and was attended by many fellow comedians including Russ Abbot, Roy Hudd, Tommy Cannon and Bobby Ball.