Ted Lune

Who was Ted Lune?

Ted Lune was a British actor, best known for portraying Private Len Bone in the TV series The Army Game. He also worked in radio comedy and appeared in a couple of films.

After leaving school at 15 and serving an engineering apprenticeship, he began entertaining people by, for example, reciting Stanley Holloway monologues, and he became well known in the Bolton area. He married Florence Baker in 1943, and they had two daughters, Lynne and Anne. He turned professional in 1947, taking his stage name from the River Lune that flows through Lancashire, and his older brother's name. Harold and Florence later divorced and in 1953 he married an entertainer, Valerie J. Tanner, known professionally as Valerie Joy.

In 1954, his career had stalled so he and Valerie Joy left the variety circuit and took a pub, The Raglan, in Hulme, just a short step from Hulme Hippodrome. The following year, he was called out of retirement as an emergency replacement for Frank Randle who had been taken seriously ill. Ted, not too reluctantly, left the pub to take over Randle's pantomime commitment, and later, his Blackpool season. That gave his career the boost it needed, leading to his role of Private Bone in The Army Game.