Walter William "Max" Bygraves 16 October β 31 August was an English comedian, singer, actor and variety performer. He appeared on his own television shows, sometimes performing comedy sketches between songs. He made twenty Royal Variety Performance appearances and presented numerous programmes, including Family Fortunes between and His catchphrase "I wanna tell you a story" became an integral part of his act, although it had originated with comedian Mike Yarwood impersonating Bygraves.
He left school at 14, working at the Savoy Hotel in London as a pageboy, but was sacked for being too tall. He later put some of his success as a variety performer down to his lanky physique. He was 6 feet 3 inches 1. After the end of the war, Bygraves worked on building sites, while entertaining in pubs in the evenings. An early variety stage appearance in January was at the Grand, Clapham with a review stating "A new impressionist. Max Bygraves, is also a lad to be watched.
He has a little to learn in the art of showmanship, but not much, but there is no denying the brilliance of his impersonations. In August , he toured in a variety show with Frankie Howerd , [ 6 ] who in turn introduced him to Eric Sykes , and they began writing routines together. With Sykes, he also developed the radio show Educating Archie , starring ventriloquist Peter Brough and his dummy Archie Andrews , and featuring Bygraves in the role of Archie's teacher.
The idea for the programme came from record producer Wally Ridley , who produced Bygraves' records during the s. In July , he made his first appearance at the London Palladium supporting Abbott and Costello , [ 8 ] and in he supported Judy Garland in her appearance there. Bygraves became a successful recording artist with seven top ten hits on the UK Singles Chart between and One of his most popular recordings, "You Need Hands" in , was written by Bygraves under the pseudonym Roy Irwin or Erwin , a name picked at random from a telephone directory.
He also wrote its follow-up, "Gotta Have Rain". Max's great talent was that he could punch lines, which was absolutely great for us. We'd give him songs with very short lines and he'd punch them out marvellously.
