He was born in Dublin and educated at Pembroke College, Oxford. During the Second World War, he served in the navy, and afterward worked on the Irish Times (using the pseudonym, "Quidnunc"), Sunday Dispatch and Sunday Times. His books, mostly humorous, included Life in Thin Slices (1954) and How to Become a Scratch Golfer (1963). He was married three times and had one daughter.

Lord Glenavy, who suffered from a serious speech impediment, nevertheless delighted television audiences with his wit, notably as a regular team captain on the long-running Call My Bluff (1965), opposite his longtime friend, Frank Muir.