Reg Varney

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 part-time 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 men's 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 act.[2] He then became an all-round entertainer, working his way around the music halls. Career[edit] Varney was cast in the role of a foreman in the television sitcom The Rag Trade (1961–63), 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 (1964–65), performing various characters in front of a live audience. After that followed another comedy role in Beggar My Neighbour (1966–68); this also starred Pat Coombs, June Whitfield, and Peter Jones. Pat Coombs played the wife of Varney's character. Varney featured in The Great St Trinian's Train Robbery (1966) with Frankie Howerd, Dora Bryan and George Cole. Varney's most successful lead role was in the sitcom On the Buses (1969–73) 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 bus-driving 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 spin-off 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 one-man show. He told an interviewer, "Whatever I did after On the Buses, nobody wanted to know about it. But I can't knock the programme because it brought me offers to do concert tours in Australia, New Zealand and Canada."[3] The world's first voucher-based 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 1967.[4]

  • Title: Reg Varney
  • Popularity: 1.093
  • Known For: Acting
  • Birthday: 1916-07-11
  • Place of Birth: Canning Town, London, England, UK
  • Homepage:
  • Also Known As:
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Reg Varney Movies

  • 1972
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    Mutiny on the Buses

    Mutiny on the Buses

    7.5 1972 HD

    Bus driver Stan Butler agrees to marry Suzy, much to the anguish of Mum, her son-in-law, Arthur, and daughter Olive. How, they wonder, will they ever...

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  • 1966
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    The Great St. Trinian's Train Robbery

    The Great St. Trinian's Train Robbery

    5.8 1966 HD

    The all-girl school foil an attempt by train robbers to recover two and a half million pounds hidden in their school.

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  • 1971
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    On the Buses

    On the Buses

    6.3 1971 HD

    Stan gets a little annoyed when his Mum and Sister keep buying expensive items on hire purchase, but the money he earns for overtime working as a bus...

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  • 1973
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    Holiday on the Buses

    Holiday on the Buses

    7.7 1973 HD

    Due to a female passenger falling out of her top whilst running for the bus Stan is distracted and crashes the bus resulting in the depot managers...

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  • 1971
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    Too Close for Comfort

    Too Close for Comfort

    1 1971 HD

    An extended humorous public information film (lasting around fifteen minutes) narrated by Richard Wattis.

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  • 1952
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    Miss Robin Hood

    Miss Robin Hood

    7.4 1952 HD

    In this delightful fantasy adventure, a mild-mannered writer of adventure stories for girls finds himself presented with an intriguing proposition...

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  • 1973
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    The Best Pair of Legs in the Business

    The Best Pair of Legs in the Business

    6.2 1973 HD

    Capitalising on his remarkable success in On the Buses, Reg Varney took on the contrasting role of a third-rate holiday camp entertainer dreaming of...

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  • 1972
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    Go for a Take

    Go for a Take

    8.5 1972 HD

    Two inept gamblers on the run from their debts and a gang of crooks find refuge in a film studio.

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  • 1965
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    Joey Boy

    Joey Boy

    5.8 1965 HD

    While posters urge austerity and vigilance in wartime Britain, 'Joey Boy' Thompson has never had it better. In a cellar beneath his East London fish...

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  • 1968
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    The Best Pair of Legs in the Business

    The Best Pair of Legs in the Business

    1 1968 HD

    A dull vacation at a holiday camp becomes interesting when the holidaying teenagers bump into 'Sherry', a female impersonator.

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  • 1979
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    The Plank

    The Plank

    7.4 1979 HD

    Classic short British comedy, full of stars, about two workmen delivering planks to a building site. This is done with music and a sort of "wordless...

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  • 1969
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    On the Buses

    On the Buses

    7.3 1969 HD

    On the Buses is a British comedy series created by Ronald Wolfe and Ronald Chesney, broadcast in the United Kingdom from 1969 to 1973. The writers'...

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  • 1967
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    Beggar My Neighbour

    Beggar My Neighbour

    6 1967 HD

    Beggar My Neighbour was a black-and-white British sitcom starring Reg Varney, Peter Jones, June Whitfield, Pat Coombs and Desmond Walter-Ellis. It...

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  • 1961
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    The Rag Trade

    The Rag Trade

    5.5 1961 HD

    The Rag Trade is a British television sitcom broadcast by the BBC between 1961 and 1963 and by LWT between 1977 and 1978. The scripts were by Ronald...

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  • 1973
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    Reg Varney

    Reg Varney

    1 1973 HD

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  • 1983
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    ITV Christmas Comedy

    ITV Christmas Comedy

    1 1983 HD

    Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without the special edition of your favourtie comedy show to fill the gap between the staggeringly huge Christmas...

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  • 1976
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    Tell Me Another

    Tell Me Another

    8 1976 HD

    Personal anecdotes as told to Dick Hills.

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