John Inman

John's family moved from hair-dressing shops in Preston to a seaside boarding house in Blackpool, where his mother and the woman who ran the boarding house next door arranged their meal times at half-hour intervals so that young John could hop back and forth over the garden wall to serve in both establishments. John thanks his old headmaster for getting him his first acting job with the local repertory company at thirteen, after which he hung around the South Pier Pavilion becoming assistant stage manager, sweeping the floors, making tea and mixing paint. With his family in difficulties, it fell to him to get a proper job, which he did as a trainee window dresser in a gents outfitters, whose manager sent him on fictitious errands in order for John to be able to attend elocution classes. His correspondence course drama examinations then found him a job with Austin Reed in London, so that, if he failed in show business, he'd be a top flight window dresser. In Regent Street, he made his debut with two colleagues pretending to be dummies standing in the windows. He then met an actor working casually at Austin Reed who asked him if he fancied a job as a scenic artist in Crewe. John was 21 and back in show business for good. In Crewe, they were short of actors so the scenic artist had to play a 65-year old J.P. in Spider's Web. Doddery old men were to be his bread and butter for years, before he and actor Barry Howard set about being the best Ugly Sisters on the panto circuit. David Croft, co writer with Jeremy Lloyd of Are You Being Served, first saw John on tour in Salad Days. With David as director, John made his West End debut in the musical Anne Veronica with Arthur Lowe. Thanks to David, he followed it with a succession of BBC appearances. In Coventry, he was shown the script which became the 'Mr Humphries Show'. In 1972, he was travelling daily to and from his panto engagements in Bristol to rehearse and record the BBC series In 1976, he didn't get a day off, so the following year he took a week off in order to do shows in Paris at the Lido and the Follies Bergeres. His schedule for 1978 was booked well in advance, including an ITV show with a script by Vince Powell.