Early Life
Manning was born in the Ancoats district of Manchester. He had Russian Jewish ancestry on his father's side, as well as roots in Ireland, and was raised a "strict Catholic". He named his house in Alkrington, Greater Manchester "Shalom," the Hebrew word for "peace."
Manning left school aged 14, and joined his father's greengrocery business and then worked in a Gallaher's tobacco factory before joining the British Army to serve his National Service. Like many other comedians of the time (including the cast of The Goon Show), Manning held little thought of entertainment as a career, until posted to Germany. Guarding Nazi war criminals (Rudolf Hess, Albert Speer and Karl Doenitz) at Spandau Prison, Berlin just post World War II, to pass the leisure time, Manning began to sing popular standards to entertain his fellow soldiers. Manning's ability to achieve this led him to put free shows on at the weekends: when he began to charge admission and audiences did not decrease, he realised that there was the possibility of making money from showbusiness.
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