George started acting at the Rotary Youth Club in Shelton, aged just 15. After RAF conscription he joined the New Era Players at Birches Head. In 1962, he was joined on stage by his son Howard, aged 8, in ‘A Raisin In The Sun’. When New Era disbanded in 1970, he was invited to join the Repertory Players and appeared in many productions and was involved in the backstage team. George also performed in local societies and once said his biggest “buzz” was singing as an amateur with a 30 piece professional orchestra.
 
In 2002 he recalled some other favourite memories for a Spotlight feature in the Rep’s ‘Stepping Out’ programme which is reprinted below.
 
“My very first role with the Rotary Youth Club was a small part in ‘Jane Eyre’. I was then cast as Danny in ‘Night Must Fall’ by Emlyn Williams – at sixteen, exactly the right age for the part – and this gave me the ‘acting bug’. Joining the New Era Players, I played several important, enjoyable roles – particularly George Gibbs in ‘Our Town’ by Thornton Wilder. We were invited to the Victoria Theatre, where I played Biff in Arthur Miller’s ‘Death Of A Salesman’ – a very moving experience.
 
For the Stoke-on-Trent Operatic Society I took major roles in ‘The Merry Wives Of Windsor’, ‘Oklahoma!’’, ‘La Vie Parisienne’, ‘Kiss Me Kate’ and, in 1974, at the Regent, ‘The Mikado’, playing Koko. In ‘The White Horse Inn’ I had a wonderful comedy role as Ebeneezer Grinkle. In North Staffs Operatic Society’s ‘Fiddler On The Roof’, I played the Innkeeper – what a show! I was also fortunate enough to play Frosch the Jailer in ‘Die Fledermaus’ at the Theatre Royal, with Newcastle Operatic Society. I had to improvise 15 minutes of dialogue, inserted as a comic interlude – a frightening experience, but with good laughs from the ever-kind audience.

At the Rep I was grateful to the late Peter Legge who cast me as the Adjutant in ‘Conduct Unbecoming’ – a terrific part. I asked, “Why me?”. He said, “You’ve played a lot of comic parts, it’s time you did a serious one for once.” Then there was ‘Deathtrap’, in which Derek Yeomans and I tried to kill each other for most of the play! Also memorable are ‘Arsenic and Old Lace’ (with son, Howard), ‘Climb The Greased Pole’ (with daughter Cathy), ‘The Long and the Short and the Tall’ (Sergeant Mitchum) and ‘Under Milkwood’. In ‘The Happiest Days of your Life’, as the Headmaster, everything that could go wrong – did! But again, the audience played its part extremely well. In ‘Out of Order’ I was presumed ‘dead’ for the first act – thrown around and hung behind a door – with Vaseline in my nostrils to stop me from sneezing! It was great to play Dick Dead Eye in ‘HMS Pinafore’ and Private Willis in ‘Iolanthe’ – a nice solo song with a full orchestra – what a thrill!”