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HIS inimitably funny actor and entertainer was the son of a humorous lecturer, and, after being educated at the North London Collegiate School, commenced life as a reporter at Bow Street, at which occupation he continued till he was thirty, becoming well known as an amateur actor and comic singer of great promise. In 1877 he made his début on the London stage as John Wellington Wells in "The Sorcerer," and afterwards played in all the Gilbert-Sullivan operas until 1889. Since that time he has chiefly restricted himself to entertainments, writing many of the bright sketches in which he appears. His latest production is the music of "Haste to the Wedding" at the Criterion.