R.I.P. - Reg Varney

[Metal Head]

They don't make them like they used to. In its day the show "On The Buses" was the most viewed comedy series in the UK.

Reg Varney, a comic actor who played a cheery Cockney bus driver in British sitcom On the Buses, died on Sunday, his daughter said. He was 92.

Daughter Jeanne Marley said Varney died at a nursing home in Budleigh Salterton, south-west England, after a short illness. Born in east London in 1916, Varney began his career as a singer, piano player and comic in the rough-and-tumble world of pubs, music halls and working men's clubs.

He joined the Royal Electrical Engineers during World War II but continued to perform as part of a touring show entertaining the troops. After the war he kept touring the music hall circuit and played a variety of television roles before becoming a household name in Britain with On the Buses.

Varney played Stan Butler, a happy-go-lucky driver tormented by the ire of his irascible boss, Inspector Blake. With its cheeky humour and large doses of slapstick, the show was a huge hit, running for seven series between 1969 and 1973. It was exported around the world, spawned three feature films and a stage show, and remains enduringly popular.

Varney also secured his place in history by making the world's first withdrawal from an electronic automated teller machine, at a branch of Barclays Bank in Enfield, north London in 1967 (see image attached).

Varney's wife Lilian died in 2002. He is survived by his daughter, two grandchildren, and one great-grandchild.

[MICKYG]

MH

If you had ten cents for every good laugh provided by Reg you would be very wealthy, a Great Performer/ Entertainer/ Actor

regards Mike

[jow104]

The bus company used was a the only private bus company in London,and operated from Wood Green, where I lived as a boy until around 18 years of age. The rest of London was operated by London Transport the red and green busses.