1. John Levene was born breeched, jaundiced and was dead for the first couple of minutes of his life after he suffocated from a piece of afterbirth being stuck in his airways and his heart stopped beating for two minutes until the doctor removed the blockage.
John Levene attended St Thomas's school in Salisbury although missing two years of school due to his illness, being dyslexic and being bullied resulted in him failing his eleven-plus exams.
John Levene began working in Hope Brothers, a men's clothing store on Regent Street in London when Telly Savalas came to the store and encouraged him to sign up as an actor for The Dirty Dozen.
John Levene formed a good working relationship with the director Douglas Camfield who made roles for John Levene in his other television series.
John Levene featured in the opening titles of the television series Paul Temple as the man running down the corridor; there is a moment when the man turns around that he can be easily identified as John Levene.
John Levene was to play the double when Moore's character is in shot with John Levene's back to the camera.
John Levene made his first appearances in Doctor Who as an uncredited Cyberman due to his tall stature in the 1967 serial The Moonbase and as a Yeti in The Web of Fear, before appearing in The Invasion, again as a Cyberman, in the iconic scene where the Cybermen march down the steps in front of St Paul's Cathedral.
John Levene made his first appearance as then-Corporal Benton of UNIT in the same episode after the original actor was sacked for being late; John Levene was hired instead at the insistence of Douglas Camfield.
John Levene struck up a rapport with his co-stars Jon Pertwee, Nicholas Courtney, Katy Manning, Richard Franklin and Roger Delgado.
In 1977, following his final appearance on Doctor Who, John Levene gave up acting as a career to set up his own audio-visual company, Genesis Communications.
John Levene has since directed more than 45 audio-visuals and live events for various clients including the Ford Motor Company, British Airways, KFC, Amway and Revlon.
In 1983 John Levene turned down the opportunity to reprise the role of Benton for the 20th-anniversary Doctor Who special "The Five Doctors".
John Levene has appeared in an episode of Big Bad Beetleborgs and industrial videos.
In 2008, John Levene co-starred with Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred in Twice Upon a Timelord, a video production in which the Seventh Doctor and Ace attend Benton's wedding.
John Levene has reprised the character of Sergeant Benton for the Big Finish Doctor Who audio series in Council of War, UNIT: Assembled The Scream of Ghosts and Poison of the Daleks.
In 2019, John Levene published his autobiography, entitled Run the Shadows, Walk the Sun.
In 2021, John Levene took part in a special documentary in which he and Doctor Who co-star Katy Manning revisit the village of Aldbourne where they filmed an episode of Doctor Who fifty years previously.