Tim was born in Buxton, Derbyshire, and studied at various schools in Buxton and Winchester before beginning an Economics and Law degree course at Cambridge University. In 1963, he became President of Footlights, the revue club in which he wrote and performed with Bill Oddie, Graeme Garden, John Cleese, Graham Chapman, Eric Idle, Jonathan Lynn and others. He toured extensively with the revue, Cambridge Circus, before moving into television.