22 Facts About Vic Oliver

Victor Oliver von Samek was an Austrian-born British musician, entertainer, comedian and actor, most popular between the 1920s and 1950s.

Vic Oliver was born in Vienna into a Jewish family, the son of Baron Viktor von Samek.

Vic Oliver played tennis, football and hockey as a youth and became junior tennis champion of Austria in 1914.

Vic Oliver studied medicine at Vienna University but abandoned it for his first love, music.

Vic Oliver had been acclaimed as a child prodigy on the violin, and for a time studied under Mahler.

Vic Oliver travelled to the United States at the end of 1922, and played in vaudeville shows as a pianist and occasional vocalist.

Vic Oliver joined a jazz group, The Nine Nights of Jazz, in 1923, and the following year formed a double act with violinist Margaret Crangle.

Vic Oliver discovered his gift for comedy by chance when he apologised to his audience after falling from a piano stool and found that his apologies "drew more laughs than did his accident".

Vic Oliver reached the Palace Theatre, New York, then regarded as the pinnacle of the American vaudeville circuit, in 1929.

Vic Oliver played the violin deliberately badly in his shows.

Vic Oliver was principal comedian in C B Cochran's revue Follow the Sun at the Adelphi Theatre, where he met Winston Churchill's daughter Sarah.

Winston Churchill did not approve of Vic Oliver, who had been divorced at least once, possibly twice.

Vic Oliver featured in a string of popular revues, just before and after the start of the Second World War, including Black and Blue, Black Velvet, and The Night and the Music.

Vic Oliver was Roy Plomley's first "castaway" guest on Desert Island Discs, on 29 January 1942.

Vic Oliver had aspirations as a conductor and in 1944 founded the Vic Oliver Concert Orchestra, which gave light classical concerts as well as complete opera performances.

Vic Oliver toured with the orchestra, and in 1945, and again in 1952, appeared in the Royal Variety Performance.

Vic Oliver featured in further London revues after the end of the war, and remained a popular comedian in pantomimes and on radio shows.

Vic Oliver was a regular on Henry Hall's Guest Night and Workers' Playtime and, as a music-based comedian, has been considered a precursor of Victor Borge.

Vic Oliver later became president of the Brentford Supporters' Club.

Vic Oliver married Natalie Frances Conder in 1946 in Westminster, London, and they had one daughter.

Vic Oliver collapsed and died during a performance in Johannesburg, South Africa, in 1964, aged 66.

Vic Oliver was briefly portrayed in the 2002 film The Gathering Storm.