He lost the sight in one eye (after disobeying doctor's orders by not resting properly) as a result of an accident during the recording of a swordfight with Basil Henson on the set of the "Sexton Blake" (1967) tale "Sexton Blake v. The Organisation" in 1968. Ironically, Payne was actually an expert fight director.
Was theatre-trained at the Old Vic School in 1939. As a conscientious objector when WWII broke out, he was exempted from military service under the proviso that he toured with the Old Vic.
Wrote eleven detective novels from 1961 onwards; the first, "The Nose On My Face", was filmed in 1963 as The Model Murder Case (1963).