He first came to prominence during the 1940s and 1950s in several operas by composer Benjamin Britten, often performing at Covent Garden and the Aldeburgh and Glyndebourne festivals.

[2] He originally worked as a commercial artist, designing book jackets for the publishers Hodder & Stoughton, including those for Leslie Charteris's The Saint series.

In 1945 he gave an acclaimed debut recital at London's Wigmore Hall, performing arias from Handel and Verdi, and taking small roles at Sadler's Wells.

After appearing in a commercial for cracker biscuits in 1970, Lumsden began to appear in small roles in TV dramas, including the BBC's Play for Today, Edna, the Inebriate Woman (1971), The Sweeney (1978), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1982), Minder (1984) in which he played the role of a vicar in the episode Senior Citizen Caine, Agatha Christie's Poirot (1989), One Foot in the Grave (1990), Jeeves and Wooster (1990), and The Detectives (1993).

[5] His film appearances were sparse but included roles in Runners (1983), A Handful of Dust (1988), and White Hunter Black Heart (1990) with Clint Eastwood.

[6] He found fame late in life, through the Yellow Pages 1983 TV advert in which Lumsden played J. R. Hartley, a fictional character in search of an out of print book called Fly Fishing by 'J.R.