Born in Walham Green, England the oldest of eight children of an English father and an Australian-born mother, Frank and Irene, he was educated at Fort Street Boys' High School. He joined the Sydney Evening News as a journalist but after six years was sacked for supporting striking workers. During this time he had been taking night classes at the Julian Ashton Art School and started a small business painting 24-sheet posters for billboards.
Amateur theatre
In 1928 he joined the Sydney Players Club, where his father was active, initially as an actor then producer, generally referred to as "Jack Appleton". He then joined Doris Fitton's The Independent Theatre, where he gained further experience as actor and producer.
Professional and Wartime experience
At least partly because of his horsemanship, he was engaged to play Dan Kelly in the 1934 film "When the Kellys Rode", which failed to find a distributor. In 1936 he joined radio 2GB's "B.S.A. Players", which led to further employment with 2GB. There he teamed up with Jack Davey and together set up an independent production company as his producer and announcer. In 1940 he was engaged to fellow Independent Theatre actorSheila Carter They married and by war's end had one child. He spent the war years with the RAAF firstly with the American 19th Bomber Group, planning the secret Hobert airfield in Northern Australia, then as Intelligence Officer with 75 Squadron for 14 months. He was then involved in a group organising escape lines from New Britain, followed by a stint with MI9. His radio production company continued to grow. One notable client, from 1947 to 1949, was Robert Menzies' Liberal Party.
Australian Broadcasting Commission
He was appointed Supervisor of Children's Programmes for ABC Radio in 1952. By this time he was married with three daughters. He took a very hands-on approach to the running of the Children's Session, including persuading Ruth Park to write him a part, "Tabby Cat", in the Muddle-Headed Wombat serial. He was outspoken on the damaging effects of TV on children's minds. With his conservative outlook and RAAF demeanor, he was treated as an outsider by the governing clique of the ABC. He retired in October 1970.
Theatre
He acted in a great number of amateur productions including:
He served as producer for the Junior Theatre League and acted as judge for several of its annual drama festivals. and was producer for the Sydney Players Club based at St James's Hall:
He wrote a number of radio broadcasts for commercial radio on historic Australian homes, the scripts of which are held in the Mitchell Library. He was active in the Pony Club movement.
