Trivia

Was the first ever 'castaway' to appear on the long-running BBC radio series Desert Island Discs. He was introduced as a "comedian, lightning club manipulator, violinist and comedy trick cyclist". The show was recorded in the BBC's bomb-damaged studio in January 1942.

He was an accomplished violinist and used this musical talent in his comedy act, and was one of the first musical comedians whose style was later taken up by the likes of Victor Borge.

Was married to Winston Churchill's daughter, Sarah.

When the great female trumpeter Joan Hinde broadcast her famous performance of the Haydn Trumpet Concerto, it was Oliver who introduced her on air, and he may even have conducted the orchestra for the performance.

Son of Baron Victor von Samek but he relinquished his father's title in 1922

He studied piano, violin, and conducting at the Vienna Conservatory, and was assistant conductor at the Graz Opera House.

After emigrating to the US, he played piano in restaurants, bars, and movie theaters. One day he announced that a charity collection would be taken during the intermission at a theater where he was performing. His English was still poor, and he ended with the words "I shall now come down and go through you all." Laughter and large donations followed, and his career in comedy had inadvertently begun.