Walter William Bygraves OBE (16 October 1922 – 31 August 2012), best known by the stage name Max Bygraves, was an English comedian, singer, actor and variety performer. He appeared on his own television shows, sometimes performing comedy
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sketches between songs. He made twenty Royal Variety Performance appearances and presented numerous programmes, including Family Fortunes. He was famous for his catchphrase “I wanna tell you a story”,
sketches between songs. He made twenty Royal Variety Performance appearances and presented numerous programmes, including Family Fortunes. He was famous for his catchphrase “I wanna tell you a story”,
After being born in Rotherhithe by the docks in east London, the family moved to East Ham. He was one of six, with elder bother Henry and four younger sisters called Lily, Patricia, Kathleen and Maureen. His father was a professional flyweight boxer, known as Battling Tom Smith, and a casual dockworker. Brought up Catholic, he attended St Joseph's School, Paradise Street, Rotherhithe, and sang with his school
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choir at Westminster Cathedral. Max got his first job aged 10 as a milkman’s assistant, delivering before school as well as having an evening paper round.
choir at Westminster Cathedral. Max got his first job aged 10 as a milkman’s assistant, delivering before school as well as having an evening paper round.However, after leaving school at the age of 14, he went into an advertising agency, WS Crawford, as a messenger boy, ferrying copy to newspapers and popping into the Holborn Empire to see variety acts whenever he could afford it. When the advertising industry slumped at the beginning of the second world war, he got a job as a carpenter's apprentice and built air-raid shelters. After being blown off a roof he was repairing during an air raid, he decided to volunteer for the RAF in 1940 and served as an airframe fitter for five years and. He
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met a sergeant in the WAAF, Blossom Murray, and they married in 1942. Together, they had three children, Christine, Anthony and Maxine.
met a sergeant in the WAAF, Blossom Murray, and they married in 1942. Together, they had three children, Christine, Anthony and Maxine.He appeared in well over 1,000 RAF concert parties acquiring on the way the title of the ‘Best Act in Fighter Command’ as well as being Aircraftsman Second Class 1212094 and doing his share of guard duties on draughty airfields. He demonstrated his skills as an entertainer by impersonating Frank Sinatra, the Ink Spots and Max Miller, which gave him the nickname Max.
By the time the war ended, he had resolved to turn professional. At the Grand theatre, Clapham, he was spotted by the agent Gordon Norval, who got him six weeks' work. Further engagements followed but the going was tough. Despite their love of Britain, he and Blossom had just decided to emigrate to Australia when a letter arrived from the BBC asking him to repeat the audition act he had recently given. This earned him an appearance in the radio series They're Out,
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which featured other demobbed entertainers such as Spike Milligan, Jimmy Edwards, Frankie Howerd, Harry Secombe and Benny Hill.
which featured other demobbed entertainers such as Spike Milligan, Jimmy Edwards, Frankie Howerd, Harry Secombe and Benny Hill.
In 1946 he did a touring revue, For the Fun of It, with Howerd. He then made his first films, Bless 'em All and Skimpy in the Navy (both 1949), and had another radio hit in the 1950s, performing in the comedy Educating Archie, written by Eric Sykes. He made a handful of films in that decade, taking the title role in Charley Moon (1956), in which he performed his single Out of Town, and appearing in Lewis Gilbert's social drama A Cry from the Streets (1958).
Meanwhile, the London Palladium had become something like his professional home. He made his debut there in 1950, after he was seen at the Finsbury Park Empire by the leading impresario Val Parnell and was asked to stand in for the comedian Ted Ray at the
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Palladium. He appeared in 14 shows there over a period of 10 years and eventually starred in 19 Royal Variety Performances. After the first of these, in 1950, Judy Garland asked him to appear with her at the Palace theatre in New York where, wrongly, he did not expect his cockney humour to register.
In the 1950s and 1960s, Bygraves appeared as a guest on several television variety programmes, both in the UK and United States. These included Ed Sullivan, Jack Benny and Jackie Gleason, in America, but his place as a broadcasting icon was founded, along with several fellow artists, by appearing as guest "tutor" to Peter Brough's ventriloquist dummy, Archie Andrews, in the long running BBC radio show Educating Archie.
In the 50s, he had reached the Top 5 with the singles Meet Me on the Corner, You Need Hands/Tulips from Amsterdam and Fings Ain't Wot They Used T'Be. Often nostalgic or comedic in tone (such as You're a Pink Toothbrush), Bygraves's recordings were also released in a series of crowd-pleasing "singalong" albums. He picked up 31 gold discs in total..Max by now was a known star; he had a Rolls-Royce with the number plate MB 1.In 1977, UK Publishing House W. H. Allen published Bygraves' comic novel The Milkman's on His Way. In
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1982, he was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE). From 1983 to 1985, Bygraves hosted Family Fortunes, taking over from his friend and fellow comedian Bob Monkhouse.
In the 1990s he bought an 84 acre property in northern New South Wales, Australia called Attunga Park. He semi retired from the UK in 2002, with a tour finishing with a sell out concert in Bournemouth, with the Beverley Sisters and moved to his Australian home. However Max returned in 2005, playing his final UK concerts in September 2006.
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Max’s wife Blossom died at their Australian home in 2011, aged 88. Max died on 31 August 2012, aged 89, at his home in Hope Island, Queensland, Australia, after being diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.
Max’s wife Blossom died at their Australian home in 2011, aged 88. Max died on 31 August 2012, aged 89, at his home in Hope Island, Queensland, Australia, after being diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.
(Compiled and edited from Wikipedia & The Guardian)