Stainless Stephen

Arthur Clifford Baynes (30 November 1892 – 13 January 1971) was an English teacher and comedian who performed under the stage name Stainless Stephen.

Biography Born in the steel-making city of Sheffield, Yorkshire, Baynes was a racing cyclist when young and continued to have an interest in cycling throughout his life; his cycle racing medals were later placed on public display in Sheffield Museum.

He served in the Sheffield City Battalion of the York and Lancaster Regiment during the First World War, and was wounded twice. After demobilisation, he made his first stage appearance as a comedian at the Palace in Luton in 1921. The following year, he joined Crookes Endowed School as an English teacher, and started appearing on local radio shows. He was one of the first comedians to appear on BBC Radio, where he created several characters including "Oscillating Oscar" as well as "Stainless Stephen".

He made his first London appearance on stage at the Victoria Palace in 1930. In 1932, he was voted the most popular radio artist in a newspaper poll, and appeared in Radio Parade (1933), a film of then-current performers. One example is: "Somebody once said, inverted commas, comedians are born not made, full stop. Well, slight pause to heighten dramatic effect, let me tell my dense public innuendo that I was born of honest but disappointed parents in anno domini eighteen ninety something, full stop. Owing to my female fan following, the final two digits must be left to the imagination, end of paragraph and fresh line."

He later ran a farm with his son at Chiddingstone, Kent,