Actor / Singer - Max Bygraves - 'Picturegoer' series postcard c.1950s

• • Postcard

     

  • Picture / Image:  Max Bygraves
  • Publisher: The Picturegoer Series No. D 368
  • Postally used: no
  • Stamp:  n/a
  • Postmark(s): n/a
  • Sent to:  n/a
  • Notes / condition: 

Please ask if you need any other information and I will do the best I can to answer.

Image may be low res for illustrative purposes - if you need a higher definition image then please contact me and I may be able to send one. No cards have been trimmed (unless stated).

------------------------------------------------

Postage & Packing:

Postage and packing charge should be showing for your location (contact if not sure).

No additional charges for more than one postcard. You can buy as many postcards from me as you like and you will just pay the fee above once. Please wait for combined invoice. (If buying postcards with other things such as books, please contact or wait for invoice before paying).

Payment Methods:

UK - PayPal, Cheque (from UK bank) or postal order

Outside UK: PayPal ONLY (unless otherwise stated) please.   NO non-UK currency checks or money orders (sorry).

NOTE: All postcards are sent in brand new stiffened envelopes which I have bought for the task. These are specially made to protect postcards and you may be able to re-use them. In addition there are other costs to sending so the above charge is not just for the stamp!

I will give a full refund if you are not fully satisfied with the postcard.

----------------------------------------------

Text from the free encyclopedia WIKIPEDIA may appear below to give a little background information (internal links may not  work) :

*************

Walter William Bygraves OBE (16 October 1922 – 31 August 2012), best known by the stage name Max Bygraves, 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.

Bygraves was born to Henry and Lillian (née McDonnell) Bygraves (who wed in 1919) in Rotherhithe in London,^[1] where he grew up in poverty in a two-room council flat with his five siblings, his parents and a grandparent.^[2] His father was a professional flyweight boxer, known as Battling Tom Smith, and a casual dockworker.^[3] Brought up Catholic, he attended St Joseph's School, Paradise Street, Rotherhithe, and sang with his school choir at Westminster Cathedral.^[1]

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 ft 3 in (1.91 m) tall, but weighed only 13 stone (83 kg) in adult life. He then became a messenger for an advertising agency in Fleet Street, before serving as a fitter in the Royal Air Force in the Second World War and working as a carpenter.^[4] He changed his name to Max Bygraves in honour of comedian Max Miller.^[5]

Bygraves' catchphrase was said to be: "I wanna tell you a story".^[5] It was actually Mike Yarwood who made up that phrase, from Bygraves' "I want to tell you a joke". He portrayed the title character in the 1956 film Charley Moon. It was revealed that Bygraves had bought the past and future rights to the Lionel Bart musical Oliver! for £350 at a time when Bart was experiencing severe financial difficulties. Bygraves later sold them for £250,000.^[6]

In the 1950s and 1960s, Bygraves appeared as a guest on several television variety programmes, both in the UK and United States. These included Ed Sullivan, Jack Benny and Jackie Gleason, in America, but his place as a broadcasting icon was founded, along with several fellow artists, by appearing as guest "tutor" to Peter Brough's ventriloquist dummy, Archie Andrews, in the long running BBC radio show Educating Archie.

He was the subject of This Is Your Life in 1961 when he was surprised by Eamonn Andrews while rehearsing his new show, Do Re Mi at London’s Prince of Wales Theatre.

In 1977, UK Publishing House W. H. Allen published Bygraves' comic novel The Milkman's on His Way.

From 1983 to 1985, Bygraves hosted Family Fortunes, taking over from his friend and fellow comedian Bob Monkhouse. He would later be succeeded as host in 1987 by Les Dennis.^[7]

In 1982, he was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE).^[8]