Mr Varney endowed Stan with all the lip and ebullience of his East End upbringing, and all the comic timing acquired from his years on the pub, club and variety circuit, which has now vanished.

ECONOMIST: Jack Scott and Reg Varney

My dad was an engineer and I spent countless hours tinkering with him on the DIY projects he had going on around our house, from using an oscilloscope and hand tools, to being allowed to drive the tractor, learning how to set spark plugs and change a timing belt, swapping out alternators, building a computer and soldering circuit paths on to an early motherboard .

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