caption death_date death_place birth_place name birth_date image article_title birth_name occupation
stainless wills cigarette card . stephen portrayed on a 1935 wd & ho yes 1971 1892 chiddingstone , kent sheffield , yorkshire stainless stephen 30 november 1892 stainlessstephen.jpg stainless stephen
 arthur clifford baynes music hall entertainer , radio entertainer
stainless stephen

arthur clifford baynes -lrb- 30 november 1892 -- 1971 -rrb- was an english teacher and comedian from the steel-making city of sheffield , yorkshire , who performed under the stage name stainless stephen .
never quite in the front rank of british music hall comedians , he would appear dressed in a smart tuxedo , a bowler hat with a steel band around it , a rotating bow tie , and a stainless steel vest .
perhaps third on the bill , this may explain why he did not give up his day job at crookes endowed school , which he joined in 1922 after his demobilisation .
that is until 1935 , when he moved to london to be nearer the bbc .
his first stage appearance was at the palace , luton , in 1921 .
his speciality was that during his intoned monologue , he would interrupt the flow by supplying the punctuation , thus : `` this is stainless aimless brainless stephen , semi-colon , broadcasting semi-conscious at the microphone semi-frantic . ''
closing a broadcast on 22 march 1941 , he said : `` and so , countrymen , semi-colon , all shoulders to the wheel , semi-quaver , we 'll carry on till we get the axis semi-circle , and hitler asks us for a full stop ! ''
he is said to have based the idea on a radio course he did while doing military service .
stainless stephen appeared in radio parade -lrb- 1933 -rrb- , a film of -lrb- then -rrb- current music hall acts .
he supported will hay at the victoria palace in 1944 , and appeared on the bill at the london palladium 's royal command performance in 1945 .
as a postscript to his career stainless stephen appeared as a guest on `` frost on saturday '' on itv on 15 november 1969 .
this edition was dedicated to the history of british broadcasting to mark the first evening of colour tv transmissions on itv .
in the show the comedian gave the television audience a sample of his somewhat unusual comedy routine .
this programme survives intact in the itv archives and is available on dvd .
in his younger days , baynes was a racing cyclist and continued to have an interest in cycling throughout his life .
his cycle racing medals are on display in the sheffield united fc museum together with other sharrow cycling club trophies .
he died in chiddingstone , kent in 1971 .
