While in the army he appeared in camp shows then when demobbed got a flat in London's West End and worked in morning jobs as a Covent Garden porter, in a bakery and on a railway, slept during the afternoon then in the evening with no actual training he more or less conned his way into doing bits in cabaret clubs. He was in a revue when he was spotted by Mario Zampi who cast him in the film Too Many Crooks. His big break came in 1959 in the 'One to Another ' revue with Beryl Reid.