Tommy Trinder

Tommy Trinder was born at 54 Wellfield Road, Streatham, South London (a plaque from the Streatham Society marks the spot), on 24 March 1909, the son of Thomas Henry Trinder, a London tram driver from Shilton, Oxfordshire, and his wife Jennie Georgina Harriet Mills.

He left school early for a job as an errand boy, but by the age of 12, was on stage. He toured South Africa with a revue company in 1921 and appeared as a boy vocalist at Collins' Music Hall the following year. Minor successes in music hall, revues and working men's clubs followed. By 1926, aged 17, Trinder was the star of Archie Pitt's travelling variety comedy shows.

National recognition began to come in 1937 with the revues Tune In and In Town Tonight. By the time of the Second World War he was one of Britain's foremost entertainers (a position he would maintain until the 1960s) and his shows brought welcome relief during the darkest days of the war.

He lived in an Art Deco-style apartment block – Du Cane Court, in Balham, south-west London – the largest such under one roof in Europe in the 1930s. He moved in with Violet Trinder (née Bailey; they had married in 1932) in 1939, and was still there in 1955. A neighbour described an impromptu encounter she had with him in which her silk scarf had covered her features. He said: "One should never hide a pretty face." His second marriage was to Gwyn (Toni) Lancelyn Green. He moved to a large private estate, Burwood Park in Hersham, Surrey, calling the house "Tiverly". He is buried in Burvale Cemetery, which is close by to where he lived.

He hosted his own television series, Trinder Box on the BBC in 1959. He was the subject of This Is Your Life in May 1959 when he was surprised by Eamonn Andrews.

He was a proud and active member of the exclusive entertainment fraternity, the Grand Order of Water Rats, serving two non-consecutive terms as its "King Rat" in 1963 and 1965, respectively. He was also President of the Lord's Taverners cricketing charity in 1956.

Always a favourite with the Royal family (he made six appearances in Royal Variety Performances between 1945 and 1980), he was appointed a CBE in 1975. He died on 10 July 1989.

In 1979 he appeared in an edition of The Old Boy Network, doing his stand-up routine and presenting a condensed history of his life and career.

Using a wheelchair after a stroke in 1986, he made his final television appearance in I Like The Girls Who Do recalling his contemporary Max Miller.

A biography by Patrick Newley, You Lucky People! – The Tommy Trinder Story, was published in 2008 (Third Age Press).