Born in Hammersmith in May 1914, Arthur Haynes was the only son of a baker. Although remembered today only by Nissan Micra drivers, Haynes was an immensely popular television comedian throughout the middle of the last century, winning awards and acclaim from all quarters. His eponymous show, The Arthur Haynes Show regularly topped the ratings and featured such stalwart figures as Nicholas Parsons and Patricia Hayes. Arthur’s early dreams of becoming an architect were dashed when his poor family worked out just how much it would cost to send him to Art School. Instead, he became a bus conductor. A stint as a furniture store clerk followed before he entered the noble profession. "I was everybody’s mate. Plumber’s mate, painter’s mate, carpenter’s mate and so on." And who knows how Arthur’s career might have progressed had it not been for the outbreak of war in 1939? Failing his army medical, he managed to pick up a job as a props man with the impressario George Black and never looked back. Teaming up with the excruciatingly unfunny Charlie Chester, Arthur’s career as a top-class radio comedian was never in doubt but his big break in television came when he was reunited with his old mucker George Black in 1956. Strike A New Note saw him teamed up with scriptwriter Johnny Speight for the first time, a partnership that was to last until Arthur’s untimely death from a heart attack in 1965. Together they built a series of memorable characters culminating in Arthur appearing in a Royal Variety Show performance in 1961 and being voted Independent TV Personality of the Year in 1962.