Basically, it arrived late in 1961 - after the Comet. The latter was an emergency purchase as BEA realised that the public wanted shiny jets even on short sectors in Europe.
In fact the Vanguard carried 139 passengers on short sectors at competitive block times. e.g Glasgow-LHR was scheduled at 1.15 hrs as against 1.25 or 1.30 for today's jets.
For such a bluff shape it had a Vne of 300 - 331 kts IAS and it is said that Vickers test pilots preferred its handling to the Valiant above 400Kts IAS!
All that on manual controls (with tabs)