Reg Varney

Varney was born in Canning Town then in Essex but now part of the London Borough of Newham His father worked in a rubber factory in Silvertown and he was one of five children who grew up in Addington Road Canning Town Varney was educated at the nearby Star Lane Primary School in West Ham and after leaving school at 14 he worked as a messenger boy and a page boy at the Regent Palace Hotel He took piano lessons as a child and was good enough to find employment as a parttime piano player His first paid engagement was at Plumstead Radical Club in Woolwich for which he was paid eight shillings and sixpence 42½p He also played in working mens clubs pubs and ABC cinemas and later sang with big bands of the time He and his mother decided that show business was the career for him and he gave up his day jobs During the Second World War Varney joined the Royal Engineers but continued his performing career as an army entertainer touring in the Far East for a time After being demobilised in the late 1940s he starred on stage in a comic revue entitled Gaytime with Benny Hill as his partner in a double act2 He then became an allround entertainer working his way around the music halls Careeredit Varney was cast in the role of a foreman in the television sitcom The Rag Trade 196163 which made him a household name He was aware that he was the only performer without West End acting experience and worked hard to make up for it Slightly later he starred in a show for BBC TV called The Valiant Varneys 196465 performing various characters in front of a live audience After that followed another comedy role in Beggar My Neighbour 196668 this also starred Pat Coombs June Whitfield and Peter Jones Pat Coombs played the wife of Varneys character Varney featured in The Great St Trinians Train Robbery 1966 with Frankie Howerd Dora Bryan and George Cole Varneys most successful lead role was in the sitcom On the Buses 196973 as the bus driver Stan Butler who never has much luck where romance is concerned Varney took considerable lengths to research the role even taking busdriving lessons and a test to gain a public service vehicle licence so that he could be filmed driving a bus on the open road Three spinoff films were made On the Buses 1971 Mutiny on the Buses 1972 and Holiday on the Buses 1973 Varney was 52 when the first series was recorded although his character who lived with his mother and was often trying to attract young women was supposed to be about 35 Varney was only eleven years younger than Doris Hare the main actress to play his mother in the series He later worked as an entertainer on cruise ships and toured Australia with his oneman show He told an interviewer Whatever I did after On the Buses nobody wanted to know about it But I cant knock the programme because it brought me offers to do concert tours in Australia New Zealand and Canada3 The worlds first voucherbased cash dispensing machine was installed at the Enfield Town branch of Barclays Bank Varney was living in Enfield at the time and for publicity purposes he was photographed making the first withdrawal from the machine on Tuesday 27 June 19674