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John was born in Preston, Lancashire in 1935. After the war, the family re-located to Blackpool where
his mother ran a boarding house and his father owned a hairdressing business. John’s interests as a child
were not the same as other boys in his street. Instead of football, John preferred dressmaking and he also
had ambitions of going into show business. At the age of just 15, John took a job at the Pavilion on the
South Pier. Although he mostly made tea and cleared up, he also got the chance to play some minor
roles in various productions. However, his first full time job was working in a local gentlemen’s outfitters,
unwittingly giving him vital experience for his most famous character.
gay great - john inman
London was calling and John decided to take a job at
Austin Reed’s in Regent Street. It was there he met
Kenneth Kendall, who had his own touring reparatory
company. Kenneth offered John some work with the
company and John accepted, using his time touring to
earn an equity card. His career now started, John made
his West End debut when he appeared in the musical
version of Ann Veronica at the Cambridge Theatre.
A few more stage performances followed, including
his first chance to play a dame in a pantomime. The
exuberant character suited John and in the years
to come, he would build a reputation as the best
pantomime dame ever.
However, his portrayal did not impress everybody. The
emerging gay rights movement criticised his performance
as reinforcing a negative stereotype and at one point, the
Campaign for Homosexual Equality picketed one of the
shows. But John has always stood by his character. He argues
that he has met Mr Humphreys many times in real life and
that far from ‘camping it up’ he was actually portraying gay
life as he saw it. Mr Humphreys was not an ideal image of a
gay man, but he was one of the first ever representations of a
gay man in a television programme and many acknowledge
this alone was a worthy thing.
The series came to an end in 1985 and was reprieved for a
follow-on show –Grace and Favour- in the early 90s.
The mainstay of John’s work had become the panto
industry and his appearances as a flamboyant dame
were memorable and loved by all. Shortly before
the opening of a panto in 2004, John fell ill
with Hepatitis A, which he had caught
from infected food. The show was
cancelled and although John was
on his feet again a few months
later, he was too ill to work.
In 2005 he entered into
a civil partnership with
long-term partner Ron
Lynch. But his health
continued to deteriorate
and sadly, he passed
away in 2007.
❝I'M FREE!❞
But it was another role that would bring
John to the attention of the public first.
Having played a small role in the TV sit-com
Two in Clover, John was asked to join the
cast for the pilot of another comedy set in
a department store. The series –‘Are You
Being Served?’- was commissioned and John
worked on developing his character – Mr
Humphreys. John played the part very camp
and portrayed as stereotypical limp-wristed
gay man, although his exact sexuality was
never confirmed.