[8] In the same year, he wrote and played the lead in a feature film called The Gang Show which premiered at the Lyceum Theatre, London in April 1937.

[9] In November 1937, "a bunch of Boy Scouts", as one writer described them, became the first amateurs to appear at a Royal Variety Performance, sharing billing with Gracie Fields, George Formby and Max Miller.

[10] Through the prewar Gang Shows, Reader became friends with Air Commodore Archibald Boyle, the deputy director of RAF Intelligence.

The German Ambassador, Joachim von Ribbentrop, attended the 1938 London Gang Show and invited Reader to visit the Hitler Youth Movement in Germany.

Boyle persuaded Reader to become an Intelligence Officer in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve with the rank of Flight Lieutenant, although the diplomatic situation had deteriorated before he could take up von Ribbentrop's invitation.

On the outbreak of war, Boyle sent Reader to France for undercover work, in the guise of running a concert party, for which some former Gang Show members were recruited into the RAF.

[13] Some of those who served in the RAF Gang Shows would later become well known entertainers, such as Peter Sellers,[14] Tony Hancock, Harry Worth, Dick Emery[15] and Cardew Robinson.

[citation needed] Following his death, the Ralph Reader Memorial Fund was established with contributions from friends, colleagues and members of various Gang Shows.

Grants may be given towards the costs of camp fees, Scout and Guide uniform, travel to Scout or Guide events, career training, convalescence after an illness, or any other purpose.”[19] In May 1984, a stone bench was unveiled in his memory outside the Church of St Clement Danes in the Strand, London, by the Royal Air Force Gang Show Association, in commemoration of his wartime entertainment work.