As a teenager during the Second World War he entertained allied troops and met David Croft who later co-wrote Dad's Army for the BBC.
He was appointed Head of Television Comedy in 1989, moving three years later into work for production companies, including Alomo's sitcom Goodnight Sweetheart for the BBC (1993–99) and Harry Hill's series for Channel 4 (1998–2000).
Tony Blackburn, one of many TOTP presenters, recalled that he "seemed perfectly in tune with the [1970s] era, forever camping it up with his booming, over-the-top voice."
A fellow BBC executive, Will Wyatt, described him as "a big, warm, cuddly bear of a man with an easy charm at work and a huge collection of Clarice Cliff pottery at home".
He died on 18 June 2011, aged 84, during a season of repeats on BBC Four of editions of Top of the Pops that he had produced in 1976, and the day after the funeral of Flick Colby, who had choreographed dance sequences for the show with, among others, Pan's People and Ruby Flipper.