Background
Toogood was born in Wellington and lived there until 1952 when he moved to Heretaunga in the Hutt Valley.
Toogood was born in Wellington and lived there until 1952 when he moved to Heretaunga in the Hutt Valley.
After an inauspicious start at school, he became involved in theatre and radio, including a role in New Zealand"s first radio soap opera. In 1939, he joined the army and, promoted to the rank of Major, spent time in Italy and North Africa as a supply officer lieutenant was on a troopship on the way home that he ran his first quiz show.
After the war, Toogood picked up where he"d left off as a stage actor, voice-over artist and radio announcer.
He began his career as a radio host in 1946 and was the originator of the game show lieutenant"s in the Bag, in which popularized the catch-phrases, "By hokey", and "What will it be, customers - the money or the bag?", in New Zealand. lieutenant"s in the Bag eventually moved on to network television, where it was equally successful.
He published his autobiography Out Of The Bag in 1979. He retired from lieutenant"s in the Bag in the 1980s, handing over the mantle to radio and television host John Hawkesby.
Toogood died in Auckland in 2001, and his ashes were buried in Karori Cemetery.