Tony Hancock was another of the great entertainers from my early years. His Radio show ' Hancock's half hour' was a 'must listen to' for most of the UK at the time.

Check out Tony Hancock.org for more information

The biography has come from http://www.railwaycuttings.co.uk/biography.htm

I have used this information as it was the best available. I mean no ill will to this excellent site and beg for forgiveness if I have offended by using it. If that is the case please contact me and it will be removed.

Tony Hancock was born on the 12th May 1924 the 2nd of 3 sons to Jack and Lily Hancock, at 41 Southam Road, Hall Green, Birmingham.

     When he was 2 years old the family moved to Bournemouth where they eventually bought the Railway Hotel. Jack Hancock was a semi professional entertainer at smoking concerts and masonics, many of his guests at the hotel were in show business. That was where Tony first met many music hall artists.

     At school Hancock was a good cricketer and boxer, academically he never did well although at technical college he did learn to be very proficient at typing and shorthand. After school he quickly drifted in and out of several jobs but his heart was set on following his late fathers footsteps by becoming a comedian.

     His mother Lily, introduced him the George Fairweather, a friend of the family who was in show business, and helped him to find his feet. Hancock was a great admirer of Max Miller and at seventeen he called himself "The Confidential Comic" and although he was somewhat naive and didn't understand the jokes himself, he tried to do a Max Miller type routine before an audience of soldiers and Sunday school teachers!

     George Fairweather had warned him against doing it and Hancock was not received well and was asked to leave the stage. Humiliated and in tears he confessed his rejection to George and promised never to tell a dirty jokes again - and he never did.

     In 1942 Hancock volunteered for the R.A.F. and after being rejected by ENSA he was accepted by Ralph Reader who organized groups of about 10 into a Concert Party and sent them off around the War Zones to entertain the troops. They had their own coach and had to fend for themselves. During this time he met Robert Moreton, Graham Stark and sometime later Peter Sellers.

     After the War, Hancock, like so many ex-servicemen had a difficult time establishing themselves in Show Business. His first real break was a six week spell in 1948 as a comedian at the famous Windmill theater. Now comedians were hired every six weeks to entertain the audience between the nude reviews. Eventually his stage work came to the notice of the BBC and he was given a spot on variety Bandbox on 9th January 1949.

     From then on, his career began to steadily improve until in 1951 he was selected to take over from Robert Moreton as Archie Andrews' tutor in Educating Archie. This first brought him national prominence and his catchphrase "Flippin Kids" became very popular. Important as this part was he was also appearing at the same time in another comedy series, "Happy Go Lucky" that, although doomed to failure first brought him into contact with Bill Kerr and reunited him with Graham Stark. Towards the end of this ill-starred program the new producer, Dennis Main Wilson, called in two young scriptwriters to help with the show - Ray Galton and Alan Simpson. They met Tony for the First time and he was impressed with their work.

     Hancock's success in Educating Archie persuaded the BBC to give him a prominent part in a show called Forces All Star Bill. When the scriptwriters had to be replaced Hancock gave his approval for Galton and Simpson to take over and then began 10 years of gradually increasing success for all three of them. After another three series during which Graham Stark and Moira Lister became his regular team in "Star Bill", the show became so popular that the BBC at last gave their approval for Hancock's Half Hour, which started on 2nd November 1954.

     Graham Stark was dropped from the team as his voice was too similar to Hancock 's. Instead Hancock suggested an actor who had played in his final film Orders are Orders in 1954 - Sid James.

     Moira Lister remained as the girlfriend and Bill Kerr added, as the sidekick. They needed a versatile actor to play most of the other voices and Dennis Main Wilson persuaded a young actor he had seen playing the Dauphin in Shaw's St.Joan who could switch from comedy to pathos effortlessly - Kenneth Williams. Andrée Melly replaced Moira Lister and she in turn was replaced by Hattie Jacques.

     After several successful series on the radio, Hancock tried a TV show. Unfortunately he was contracted to do 2 series on ITV and these were written for him by Eric Sykes - and were not acknowledged as being an outstanding success. Afterwards he returned to the BBC and Galton and Simpson. For five years the radio and TV series ran concurrently on the BBC with increasing recognition until the ultimate accolade was achieved. Complaints began to pour in from Publicans and Shopkeepers protesting that when Hancock was on, their pubs and shops were empty and the streets deserted!

     Hancock, with Galton and Simpson produced many classic shows that now form part of our comic heritage. On radio: The Dairy - Test Pilot, The Scandal Magazine, Hancock in Hospital and Sunday Afternoon at Home. On T.V: The Economy Drive, Twelve Angry Men, The Reunion Party, The Bedsitter, The Radio Ham, The Blood Donor and many, many more.

     Although increasingly successful, Hancock never rested on his laurels and was always looking to improve his performance, the scripts, the camera angles and the shows personnel. In this way he gradually dispersed with all his long time colleagues and even Sid James. Sid died on stage at the Sunderland Empire on Monday 26th April 1976, aged 62, from a heart attack.

     Nevertheless despite public disquiet he proved his point by making his last BBC, TV series in 1961, the most successful and best remembered.

    Unfortunately Hancock hungered for international film stardom, and in 1960 Galton and Simpson wrote The Rebel his second film and although very successful in the U.K. and Commonwealth, it had no impact in the U.S.A, the market he was aiming for.

     After the last BBC series Hancock insisted that the next script had to have much wider appeal (in the USA) and for six months Galton and Simpson laboured - unpaid - to write one. In fact they wrote several - but all were rejected by Hancock. Eventually Hancock agreed that they should go and write some comedy scripts for the BBC whilst he decided what to do next. This was probably his biggest mistake, as Galton and Simpson wrote one particular script called "Steptoe and Son" and never looked back. Hancock was never to find anyone to adequately replace them. He decided to form his own company and with Philip Oakes co wrote the screenplay for The Punch and Judy Man an introspective sad comedy of a disenchanted Punch and Judy Man - hardly suitable for worldwide audiences -and it wasn't too well received in the UK either.

     After his film, Hancock went to ATV in 1963 for a series of 13 comedy shows that were reasonably well received but the scripts were not very good and by mischance were put out at the same time as Steptoe and Son - then at the height of its long running success. Hancock returned to his stage career and made several tours of the U.K. with some of his BBC colleagues; Alec Bregonzi, Mario Fabrizi and Johhny Vyvyan.

     Like many comedians Hancock worried about his performance and continuing success. He liked a drink, but as his career began to falter his drinking dramatically increased and he became a chronic alcoholic. In the 1960's alcoholism wasn't widely understood and any comedian admitting to such a problem would be quickly dropped. He laboured on through two more ITV series; The Blackpool Show 1946, and Hancock's (night club setting) - 1967. By the last series Hancock was in a bad way and the show received bad reviews. In desperation Hancock accepted a three week engagement in Melbourne, Australia. He went down well and was asked to return in 1968 to do a series of six TV shows.

     Unfortunately by then his alcoholism had reached an advanced stage and although he struggled to work hard the scripts and his fellow actors left a lot to be desired. His private life was a mess. He had left his first wire Cicely and married his agent Freddie Ross and his alcoholism had quickly driven her away too. Whilst in Australia his second divorce became absolute. Alone, depressed and despising the sympathy of sinking into public oblivion he committed suicide on 25th June 1968.

     Since his tragic death Tony Hancock's fame has not diminished but contrived to shine ever brighter through repeats of his radio and TV shows, on record, audio tape, video and books of scripts where his comic genius has continued to grow in stature and be appreciated by a new generation of admirers - not only in this country but all around the world. - Anthony John Hancock (Hall Green, Birmingham) 1924 -1968 (St Dunstan's, Midddlesex)