The Max Bygraves Story

Max Bygraves was born in London on October 16th 1922, so close to the Bow Bells, his mother says she had to cup her hands over his ears as a baby to stop his being deafened by the chimes.

Born in the 'Depression Twenties', his parents found the going very tough. A two-roomed council flat was home for the six strapping children -two boys and four girls, they produced. Work was scarce in the nearby docks for father, an ex-professional fighter, so Max and brother Harry worked to help the family budget; Max with a paper delivery round and Harry as assistant to the milkman. "We had butter on Sundays and a chicken at Christmas", says Max, "the rest of the time we had a diet of bread, margarine and jam - I had so much margarine as a child - if ever I had to go to hospital they would never think of giving a blood transfusion - they did an oil change."

It was as a 12 year old soprano that Max first appeared on stage in a talent concert at London's New Cross Empire. All the contestants were dressed in their Sunday best so Max got an old pair of trousers with seat and knees out and a ragged shirt. He rubbed dirt on his face, borrowed a friend's dog and walked on stage minus socks and shoes. He won hands down with his rendering of "My Mother's Birthday Today," Max is quoted as saying, "The applause was thunderous. I couldn't get it out of my head, I suppose that's when the show business bug first bit me."

At fourteen he finished school and began an apprenticeship with a building firm as a carpenter. In 1939, he left the job and volunteered for the Royal Air Force. This was the first time in his life he can remember not having to share a bed with twenty-seven other people. The RAF shaped his later life. He had a pleasant singing voice and was always in demand for troop concerts, the more he performed the more he liked it, he compered, he acted in sketches, he painted scenery, he learned more about stagecraft than he ever learned about aeroplanes. As a result of his near perfect Max Miller impression, former Private Walter Bygraves, became firmly christened Max, by his fellow airmen. In the five years he served in the RAF, he performed in well over one thousand troop shows.

Demobbed in 1945, he returned to carpentry. Now with a pretty ex-RAF Blossom as his wife, who he married in 1942, he found himself with £6 a week as salary; there was rent to pay, food to buy and a baby daughter, Christine, to keep. To supplement this, he worked at the pubs and working men's clubs in and around London. One afternoon because of rain, he was laid off for the rest of the day; he decided to go and see a matinee at the famous London Palladium. As he paid his admission money to sit up in the gallery, he bumped into his old commanding officer. He informed him that the BBC were devising a new show made entirely of ex-service personnel. Max auditioned and was immediately booked. He made friends with another young man who was the most nervous person he had ever met - his name was Frankie Howard. They were of course, both successful. That one broadcast was to alter Max's whole life. The immediate result was that he landed a job in a touring revue. 'For The Fun Of It', which ran for 61 weeks. He gave up his carpentry for good, to become a full-time entertainer going on to achieve great success on stage and in films. After appearing in his first Royal Command Performance, the BBC invited Max to apppear in a new series they were starting with a wooden dummy, 'Educating Archie'. Despite the seemingly bizarre idea of having a ventriloquist, the essence of whose act is in visual illusion, on radio the show was extremely successful, ran for 11 years and helped to put names such as Julie Andrews, Tony Hancock, Eric Sykes and Peter Brough, the brains and voice behind Archie, on the road to fame.

One day the leading comedian at the London Palladium was indisposed, Jock (Max's agent) talked Val Parnell into letting Max deputise. He did - and was a big success. Contracts followed for all the 'big time' dates - gone were the small provincial music halls. In 1950-52 Max and family, Blossom, daughter Christine , son Anthony and Maxine, a babe in arms toured the U.S.A with Judy Garland. Max returned to England to play the great London Palladium where he has continually played in Summer seasons and Pantomime since. In the early days television was very studio bound and Max had the novel idea of doing an outdoor show. The resulting series, called Roamin'Holiday, was set in Alassio in Italy and was an enormous success. The show brought so much publicity that the town made Max an honorary mayor. Max's shows have, of course, been a regular and welcome feature on television ever since. In 1972 the show was called simply Max and as Max himself describes, it happened right from the first moment. This was followed, the next year, by ashow entitled 'Max at the Royalty'. Again with the big band of Geoff Love who had so endeared himself to the viewers. These shows were amongst the top-rated television shows and were enjoyed by 25 million viewers weekly.

His movies have earned him wonderful notices too - ' Cry from the Streets ', ( 1960 ) was one of the few films to be chosen for the Edinburgh Festival.Max also starred in ' Charley Moon '( 1954 ) and starred with Shirley Jones in the 20th Century Fox film of ' Bobbikins ' ( 1957 ). ' Spare the Rod ', a hard edged drama where Max played a serious role as a school teacher, followed in 1963.

Along the way Max has collected many awards and accolades, in 1959 he was presented the Ivor Novello award for ' Best Songwriter of the Year '. His ever popular 'SingalongaMax ' records have achieved more than 27 Gold and Platinum discs. He has appeared in 19 Royal Command Performances. Voted Personality of the Year by the Variety Club of Great Britian, Max has been honored by them on three occasions, as recently as May 2000 . Amongst his proudest achievements, Max has also been presented an O.B.E. by Her Majesty the Queen.

As well as his current British Concert tours, Max is in constant demand abroad and spends most winters now in Australia, Hong Kong, South Africa and the U.S.A. After almost sixty years in show business, what are his ambitions? " To carry on what I am doing - just as long as I can and make people happy ".