Born in Coventry, the youngest of seven children, he made his first onstage appearance there at the age of ten, and sang with local dance bands.

He served in India, Burma and the Middle East with the Royal Air Force in the Second World War, and then joined Ralph Reader's Gang Show.

[2][3] His comedy style was described as lugubrious, in the tradition of earlier northern English performers such as Jack Pleasants, Alfred Lester, and George Formby Sr.

He featured in the 1949 Royal Variety Performance, and in 1952 gained his first starring role in the West End, replacing George Formby in the show Zip Goes a Million at the Palace Theatre.

[2] He later scaled down his work due to ill health, and owned a farm at Fillongley, Warwickshire, but made a final television appearance in an episode of Are You Being Served?