Arthur Haynes

Arthur Haynes (14 May 1914 – 19 November 1966) was an English comedian and star of The Arthur Haynes Show, a comedy sketch series produced by ATV from 1956 until his death from a heart attack in 1966. Haynes also appeared on radio and in films.

Early life Arthur Haynes was born in London, the only child of a Fulham baker. He started off in a number of odd jobs, doing painting (he was very proud of his painting in later years), plumbing and joinery He continued to work with Chester after the war in the BBC Radio series Stand Easy (1946–49). Sometimes Patricia Hayes would join them as a female tramp. In early episodes, the shows were played out on a theatre stage, and basic scenery and props were used where, for instance, the audience could see outside and inside a house, as there was no wall on their side. Later episodes had improved sets. The stars sometimes forgot (or did not bother to learn) their lines, and would ad lib them. If someone fluffed a line, that would be used to get more laughs. Haynes and others sometimes failed to keep a straight face and occasionally burst into laughter.

The shows would also feature musical guests, such as the Springfields in 1963, Kenny Ball and his Jazzmen and the Rolling Stones in 1964, and Joe Brown and the Bruvvers and the Dave Clark Five in 1965. A number of the shows started and ended with Arthur Haynes driving a horse and cart along a narrow country lane, whistling and (unconvincingly) playing a harmonica. Some began with a cartoon workman using a road drill on the show's title.

Haynes received the Variety Club's award as ITV Personality of 1961 and appeared on the Royal Variety Performance in the same year.

Death and legacy

Haynes died of a heart attack on 19 November 1966 in Ealing, at the age of 52, shortly after he returned from America, where he had appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show, and just before the commencement of shooting for the 16th series of his ITV television series. His wife Queenie died on 7 November 2010, aged 95.

DVD release Between 2011 and 2013, Network DVD released all surviving episodes of The Arthur Haynes Show (from film recordings) on Region 2 DVDs. Volume 1 contains thirteen of the earliest surviving episodes from 1960, while Volume 2 contains twelve episodes dating from 1961. Volumes 3 and 4 contain episodes from 1962, Volumes 5 and 6 both containing episodes based on scripts by Johnny Speight. Volume 7 completes the sequence.

A single collection set titled The Collected Arthur Haynes Show, consisting of all seven volumes, was released on 24 April 2017.