Les Henry was “Cedric”, the lugubrious comic turn in the Three Monarchs, the hugely popular harmonica-playing trio who topped variety bills in Britain from the 1950s to the 1970s.

The trio was founded in 1946, with the musicians Eric York and Jimmy Prescott, and as it gained fame in clubs and on radio in The Forces Show, Henry developed the character of “Cedric”. His shuffle, tiny black beard, brilliant timing and squeaky voice turned them into a top-rating variety act. They appeared more times than any other musical act at the London Palladium, starred in revue and cabaret in London, Las Vegas and South Africa, and notched up several Royal Variety performances. In the 1960s they were an almost permanent fixture with the Black and White Minstrel Show.

Born Henry Leslie in 1920 — he reversed his name when he turned professional — Les Henry started playing the harmonica at 8 and as a child idolised Larry Adler. He formed his own harmonica group which won the Open Harmonica Band Championship at Butlin’s Holiday Camp in 1938 and he toured as a solo act with Bryan Michie’s Radio Stars of 1939.

In the war he was a dispatch rider in North Africa and Italy as well as performing for troops with Harry Secombe and Spike Milligan, who described him as “a very funny man indeed and a brilliant harmonica player”.

On demob Secombe and Milligan invited Henry to join a new radio project — eventually realised as The Goon Show — but Henry opted to form his harmonica trio. Max Geldray joined the Goons instead of him.

It was Henry who christened the trio the Three Monarchs — billed in variety as “Kings of Harmonica”. Initially the act was purely musical but the character of Cedric became so popular that extra comic routines were added. As well as the harmonica the Monarchs also played trumpet, drums, piano, guitar and saxophone.

By the 1950s the Monarchs’ work schedule was extraordinary. They toured in more than 30 countries. “In one period we did 79 shows in 17 days,” Henry recalled. At the London Palladium the Monarchs appeared with stars such as Secombe, Lena Horne and Des O’Connor, and in provincial variety they did long seasons with Lonnie Donegan, Dickie Henderson, the Beverley Sisters, the Springfields and Litz Roza.

They appeared in cabaret at venues such as the Savoy Hotel, in revue at the Prince of Wales Theatre, and they were one of the many international variety acts to appear in the film Europa di notte (Europe by Night, 1959). They also did several tours of South Africa, the first with a 13-year-old Helen Shapiro, and for many years were fixtures in panto, billed as “Those Crazy Kings of Comedy”.

The Monarchs broke up in 1981 and Henry went solo. “Les’s solo act was an irresistible combination of wild ‘off the wall’ bits of visual comedy and one-liners plus great harmonica playing,” said Roy Hudd. “He tore theatre audiences up.”

Henry virtually never retired and delighted meeting fans after a show, signing their autograph books with the words “harmonically yours”. In 2005 he was given a Lifetime Achievment Award by the British Music Hall Society.

Les Henry (Cedric Monarch), musician and comedian, was born on October 20, 1920. He died on January 12, 2007, aged 86