Dave King Show, The

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Comedian, actor and singer Dave King was born in Twickenham, Middlesex in June 1929.

After completing his National Service in the RAF he found success as a stand-up comic, often performing a solo spot on variety bills.

In 1955 he followed Benny Hill and Norman Wisdom as compere of the BBC variety series Showcase which led to his own monthly series, The Dave King Show.

In 1958, King moved from the BBC to ITV with The Dave King Show.

He recorded several successful singles for Decca including Memories Are Made Of This, which challenged Dean Martin‘s original version and reached #5.

Making a concerted effort to break through in America, King hosted 18 editions of Kraft Music Hall on US television in 1959. He appeared in the film Pirates of Tortuga in 1961 but had only limited success with other projects in the United States.

Two further comedy series, The Dave King Show (1962) – with Lisa Daniely as his wife – and Dave’s Kingdom (1964) – with Victor Maddern as his landlord – were largely ignored and he took up dog breeding, moving to Gloucestershire.

King died in April 2002, aged 72.