Trivia

Reportedly insured his huge, identifiable nose with Lloyds of London for £20,000.

In a poll carried out by the US trade magazine "Motion Picture Herald", he was named by operators of British Film houses as one of the top ten home (British) box office draws of 1952. Bob Hope was the overall top draw when considering all nationalities (he had become a US citizen in 1920).

On stage from 1928.

After his retirement from acting he ran a pub in Sussex.

Cockney character actor beginning debuting on the stage in 1928 and film from 1934. He spent many years in small, often uncredited roles until he found fame in the 1950s with his own brand of nonsensical comedy.

Spent two years with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in his late teens before returning to the UK and enlisting with the Royal Corps of Signals, where he developed a taste for performing while taking part in army concerts.

Was Roy Plomley's castaway on the BBC Radio programme Desert Island Discs on Tuesday, 6 November 1951. He chose a "trainable animal" as his one luxury.