He was a boy soprano in his school's pierrot troupe and on leaving school became an auctioneer in London's Petticoat Lane Market. In WWII he joined the Royal Air Force for five years attaining the rank of flight sergeant. Finding himself in Italy he had his voice checked at the Italian Conservatoire. On being demobbed he went round theatrical agents then auditioned at The Windmill Theatre at Piccadilly and given a 6 week trial which lasted nearly 2 years. In 1952 he met Paddie O'Neil who was in a show with him. They married and had a daughter Danielle