TONY HANCOCK

1924 - 1968

Tony Hancock was born on the 12th May 1924 the second of three sons to Jack and Lily Hancock, at 41 Southam Road, Hall Green, Birmingham (Birmingham's Tourist Information Site has a page on him).

When Tony 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 Masonic functions and many of his friends at the hotel were in show business. It was here that a young Tony met many music hall artists of the day.

At school Hancock was a good cricketer and boxer but never excelled academically, although at technical college he did learn to be very proficient at typing and shorthand. On leaving school Tony briefly drifted in and out of a variety of jobs but his heart was set on following in his late father's footsteps by becoming a comedian.

His mother Lily introduced him to George Fairweather, a friend of the family who was in show business. It was George who helped Tony to find his feet. Hancock was a great admirer of a risqué comedian of the day, Max Miller, and at seventeen, calling himself "The Confidential Comic", Tony tried to perform a Max Miller routine to an audience of soldiers and Sunday school teachers; the audience's reception was decidedly frosty - the young and naive Tony himself not understanding the jokes. George Fairweather had advised Tony against doing the routine and, humiliated and in tears after being asked to leave the stage, Tony confessed his rejection and failure to George and vowed never to tell a dirty joke again - and he never did.

In 1942 Hancock volunteered for the RAF and after being rejected by ENSA he was accepted by Ralph Reader who organised groups into Gang Shows and sent them off around the many war zones to entertain the troops. These Gang Shows of about ten members each had to fend for themselves, travelling around in their own coach, and it was during this time that Hancock met Robert Moreton, Graham Stark and Peter Sellers.

After the war, Hancock, like many ex-servicemen, had a difficult time establishing himself in show business. His first real break was a six week spell in 1948 as a comedian at the (in)famous 'Windmill Theatre' where comedians were hired every six weeks to entertain the audience between the nude revues. 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 the popular radio show, "Educating Archie". It was this role which first brought Tony to national prominence and his catchphrase, "Flippin' Kids" became very popular. At the same time as appearing in Educating Archie, Tony was also involved with another comedy series, "Happy Go Lucky" which, although ultimately doomed to failure, brought Tony into contact with Bill Kerr and also reunited him with Graham Stark. Towards the end of this ill-fated programme, the new producer, Dennis Main Wilson, called in two new young scriptwriters to help with the show; their names were Ray Galton and Alan Simpson and here the two met Hancock for the first time.

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 ten 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 own show, "Hancock's Half Hour", which was first broadcast on November 2nd 1954.

Graham Stark was dropped from the team as his voice was thought to be too similar to Hancock's; instead Hancock suggested Sid James, an actor who had played in his last film in 1954, "Orders are Orders". Moira Lister remained as the girlfriend and Bill Kerr was 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 as the 'Dauphin' in Shaw's "St. Joan". This actor, whose name was Kenneth Williams, could switch effortlessly from comedy to pathos. Andrée Melly replaced Moira Lister after the first series and she, in turn, was replaced by Hattie Jacques in series four.

After several successful series on the radio, Hancock tried a TV show. Hancock was, however, contracted to do two series with ITV. The shows, with scripts written by Eric Sykes, were not acknowledged as being an outstanding success. Afterwards, Hancock returned to the BBC and the successful writing team of Galton and Simpson. For a period of five years, the radio and TV series ran concurrently on the BBC with increasing recognition until the ultimate and unprecedented accolade was achieved - complaints began to pour into the BBC from publicans and shopkeepers who protested 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: Hancock - Test Pilot, The Scandal Magazine, Fred's Pie Stall, Sunday Afternoon at Home, The Poetry Society and Sid's Mystery Tours;
On TV: The Economy Drive, The Two Murderers, The Missing Page, The Bedsitter, The Reunion Party, 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 show's cast. To this end he gradually dispersed with all his long time colleagues, including Sid James. Nevertheless, despite public disquiet, he proved his point by making his last BBC-TV series in 1961 arguably his most successful and memorable. Unfortunately Hancock hungered for international film stardom and in 1960 Galton and Simpson wrote "The Rebel", his second film. Although well received in the UK and the Commonwealth, the film made no impact in the US market which was Hancock's original goal.

After the last BBC series, Hancock insisted that the next film script had to have much wider appeal (ie. in the US) and for six months Galton and Simpson laboured -unpaid- to write one. In fact they wrote several but all were rejected by Hancock. Eventually it was agreed that Galton and Simpson should write some comedy scripts for the BBC whilst Hancock decided what to do next. This may have been Hancock's biggest mistake, as one of the scripts Galton and Simpson wrote was called "Steptoe and Son" and the rest is history - needless to say, the two were kept very busy thereafter and Hancock never found anybody to adequately replace them. Instead, he decided to form his own company and with Phillip Oakes co-wrote the screenplay for "The Punch and Judy Man" which was largely unsuccessful in the UK and ill-suited to worldwide audiences.

After this film, in 1963, Hancock went to ATV for a series of 13 comedy shows that were reasonably well received, though the scripts were mediocre and by mischance, the shows were broadcast 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 UK with some of his former BBC colleagues: Alec Bregonzi, Mario Fabrizi and Johnny 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 engagements for any comedian admitting to such a problem would quickly dry up. He laboured on through two more ITV series - The Blackpool Show (1966) and Hancock's (1967). By the last series Hancock was in poor shape and the show received bad reviews. In desperation Hancock accepted a three week engagement in Melbourne, Australia where he went down well enough to be invited back in 1968 to make a series of six TV shows.

Unfortunately, by then, his alcoholism had reached an advanced stage and although he struggled to work hard, his personal problems, the scripts and his fellow actors left a lot to be desired. Indeed, his private life was a mess. He had left his first wife Cicely and married his agent Freddie Ross but his alcoholism and depressive, violent moods eventually drove her away as well. Whilst in Australia the divorce to his second wife became absolute and, alone, depressed and despising the ignominy of sinking into public oblivion, he committed suicide on June 25th 1968.

Since his tragic death, Tony Hancock's fame has not diminished but has contrived to shine ever brighter through repeats of his radio and TV shows, on record, CD, cassette and through many books and scripts. His comic genius has grown in stature, being appreciated and enjoyed by a new generation of admirers the world over.

Spike Milligan

"He went around closing doors on everybody and eventually closed the door on himself"

Sir Harry Secombe

"The demands of his profession shaped him, destroyed him and eventually killed him. If anyone paid dearly for his laughs it was the lad himself. May he lie sweetly at rest"