Early years Wallace was born in
Marylebone, London, the only son of a
Liberal Member of Parliament,
Sir John Wallace and his wife Mary Bryce Wallace (
née Temple). He was educated at
Charterhouse School (1933–1938) and
Trinity Hall, Cambridge (1938–1940), where he read law and joined the
Cambridge Footlights. During his
World War II service in the
Royal Artillery, he organised and starred in troop shows. Wallace was invalided out of the Army in 1944, after he contracted spinal
tuberculosis, and decided that his career lay in entertainment rather than the law. He first appeared on the professional stage in
Glasgow, in
Ashley Dukes's
The Man With a Load of Mischief. He made his London stage début in 1945 at
Sadler's Wells in
James Bridie's play
The Forrigan Reel, directed by
Alastair Sim. He was doubtful of his suitability for an operatic career, but in 1946 friends persuaded him to audition for the conductor
Alberto Erede, who engaged him for the first season of the New London Opera Company. The critic of
The Times thought Wallace overplayed the buffo element, both as the Sacristan and Bartolo, but praised his singing. From 1948 to 1961, Wallace performed regularly at
Glyndebourne Festival Opera, By the early 1950s his comic skills were attracting unreserved praise. He added the buffo role of Melitone in
La forza del destino to his repertoire, but he also played more serious roles including Mephistopheles in
Gounod's
Faust. He made his Italian operatic début as Masetto in
Parma in 1950. Later, he sang Don Magnifico in
La Cenerentola in Rome in 1955 and Bartolo in
Barber in Venice in 1956. He again sang Don Magnifico, this time in English, for
Sadler's Wells Opera in 1960. In 1961,
The Times wrote of his Bartolo, "as magnificent a character study as ever, excellently sung and never for a moment over-played." He performed at the
Bregenz Festivals in 1964 and 1965. Schlendrian in
Bach's
Coffee Cantata; and Mr Somers in ''Gentleman's Island
by Joseph Horovitz. Also in the 1960s, he sang the main Donizetti buffo roles, Don Pasquale (Welsh National Opera, 1967) and Dulcamara in L'elisir d'amore'' (Glyndebourne Touring Opera, 1968). Though not a fluent sight-reader of unfamiliar music, Wagner in
Busoni's
Doktor Faust, the title role in
Weber's
Peter Schmoll, the buffo lead, Buonafede, in
Haydn's
Il mondo della luna, and Calender in
Gluck's
comédie mêlée d'ariettes,
La rencontre imprévue.
Plays, revue and other stage shows Early in his Glyndebourne career, Wallace consulted the festival's administrator
Moran Caplat on whether he might sing in non-operatic productions elsewhere. Caplat gave him his blessing as long as he did not damage his voice. In 1962, invited to present a one-man show at the
Criterion Theatre, London, he preferred to share the bill, and his "after-dinner entertainment"
4 to the Bar had a cast of four. From the early 1960s to the 1980s, Wallace performed a
one-man show, featuring operatic excerpts,
ballads and comic songs. He was particularly noted for his performances of the music of
Flanders and Swann, and "The Hippopotamus" became his
signature tune. His association with them led to his participation in the
Hoffnung Music Festivals, in which he performed
Variations on a Bedtime Theme, a series of spoof advertisements for a well-known bedtime drink, in the style of
Bach,
Mozart,
Verdi,
Stravinsky and
Schoenberg, and
The Barber of Darmstadt, a send-up of atonal composers. He also contributed to
Ledlanet Nights, held at the then house of his first publisher,
John Calder, appearing there in his one-man show and in comic roles in musical works. In the theatre, Wallace's roles included Bottom in ''
A Midsummer Night's Dream, of which The Times'' wrote, "he takes the stage like one inspired, and the result can seldom have been funnier". Other acting roles included César in a
West End musical version of
Marcel Pagnol's
Fanny with
Robert Morley, the Emperor of China in
Cole Porter's
Aladdin, Toad in
Toad of Toad Hall, and Ralph in ''The One O'Clock World'' in 1984.
Broadcasting, film and television Wallace was one of the performers who popularised classical music on television in the 1960s. He is remembered for his performance of the "Gendarmes' Duet" from
Offenbach's
Geneviève de Brabant, presented in full gendarme's uniform, which he repeated many times over a 10-year period with a number of accompanying tenors and pianists. He broadcast in
Gilbert and Sullivan operas at
the Proms and, for commercial television, devised and presented
Singing for Your Supper, three series of half-hour introductions to operas, including
The Barber of Seville and
Don Giovanni. He acted occasionally on television and in films, one example being the 1958 film of
Tom Thumb, playing the role of the Cobbler. His other film credits included roles in
Dentist in the Chair (1960) and
Plenty (1985), starring
Meryl Streep. A later character role in a television drama was the Praelector, spouting Latin and bemusing
Ian Richardson as the new head of a
Cambridge college, in the 1987 dramatisation of
Tom Sharpe's
Porterhouse Blue. To the general public, Wallace was best known as a panellist throughout the 27-year run of the
BBC radio
panel game My Music, from 1967 to 1994, not missing a single episode of more than 520 that were broadcast.
Later years After retiring from opera, as President of the Incorporated Society of Musicians, Wallace was prominent in the fight to stop the BBC from making drastic cuts in its orchestras in 1980. He served as President of the Council for Music in Hospitals from 1987 to 1999. He also published two volumes of reminiscences: ''Promise Me You'll Sing Mud
(1975) and Nothing Quite Like It
(1982), and a third book, Reflections on Scotland'' (1988). Wallace died from bronchopneumonia and Parkinson’s disease at the age of 90 at his home in
Highgate, North London, survived by his wife Patricia, daughter Rosemary and son John. ==Recordings==