 He grew up in Manchester and Derbyshire.Hoping to become an engineer, he failed to obtain an apprenticeship to Rolls Royce because of his stammer, he started his first job, in an advertising agency in Derby, aged 16, and then worked in Walsall and Birmingham.He took evening classes in drawing, where he met his wife, Ethel and he served in the RAF in the Second World War as a driver in the RAF regiment.