Background
He was the son of Benjamin Holden Joseph Warriss, an insurance company inspector, and his wife, Mary Ann, née Driver, Jewel"s mother"s sister.
He was the son of Benjamin Holden Joseph Warriss, an insurance company inspector, and his wife, Mary Ann, née Driver, Jewel"s mother"s sister.
Allegedly the two cousins were born in the same bed (at different times) and brought up in the same household at 52 Andover Street, Sheffield. He first performed on the stage in 1930. Jimmy Jewel and Ben Warriss came together as professionals in 1934 at the Palace Theatre, Newcastle.
Around 1966, the two went their separate ways, with Warriss performing on stage and Jewel moving into television
In the 1970s Warriss was the resident compere at the Cala Gran club in Fleetwood, Lancashire. In 1988 he played the Emperor of China in the first of the newly reopened Hackney Empire pantomimes, Aladdin.
He was still performing in pantomime in his eighties. The character Parker from the 1960s television series of Thunderbirds is said to have be based upon Warriss" appearance.
This marriage had ended by about 1940 and two years later Warriss married the entertainer Meggie Easton.
He died in 1993 at Brinsworth House, Staines Road, Twickenham, and is buried in the same section of Streatham Park Cemetery, London, as comedian Will Hay.
