Career
Born in Beckenham, to Claud Counsell and Evelyn Fleming, the bulk of Counsell"s career was spent in Windsor repertory theatre and the West-end stage. In 1930 Counsell served as an apprentice at the Theatre Royal in Windsor, Berkshire, when it reopened as a theatre after a short time as a cinema. In 1933 he took over managing the theatre.
The venture lasted only a few months before it went bankrupt, but the future King George VI and Queen Elizabeth II attended one of the last performances, coming from nearby Windsor Castle.
Counsell re-opened the theatre in 1938 and was able to establish a viable company that ran without government subsidies.